Opening Day is always a welcomed date on the baseball calendar, bringing with it the promise of warm summer nights, line drives in the gap and the satisfying sound of a ball smacking into the pocket of a leather mitt.
Second baseman Nick Yorke batted .342 in the Arizona Fall League last year after battling a series of injuries in the regular season. Associated Press
Among the new faces expected to be seen in Portland this spring is infielder Nick Yorke, a 2020 first-round draft pick (17th overall) of the Boston Red Sox who enjoyed a banner season in 2021 but scuffled through last season as he battled a series of minor injuries.
Boston’s Minor League Offensive Player of the Year in 2021 managed to play in only 80 games last year for High-A Greenville, where he batted .232 with a .668 OPS.
Back stiffness, turf toe and wrist soreness prevented Yorke from playing more than 80 games last season. The Red Sox sent him to the prospect-laden Arizona Fall League, where got in another 19 games and batted .342.
A native of California, the 21-year-old arrived at the Red Sox training camp in Fort Myers, Florida, in January to get a head start on spring training.
“He had some struggles last year and battled some injuries,” said Brian Abraham, Boston’s director of player development. “But he had a really strong fall league and really good offseason and finished strong this spring training.”
The Sea Dogs are scheduled to open their 30th year in Maine at 6 p.m. Thursday at Hadlock Field against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Rehabbing Red Sox right-hander Garrett Whitlock is the Opening Night starter.
Whitlock is recovering from September hip surgery and coming off another Opening Day start. He tossed 75 pitches in four innings for Triple-A Worcester on Friday.
Manager Chad Epperson, entering his second season in Portland, will make out the lineup card on Thursday and it is likely to include top prospects such as Yorke at second base and Ceddanne Rafaela in center field.
A native of Curacao, Rafaela enjoyed a breakout season last year, split between High-A Greenville and Portland. He hit a combined 21 homers, stole 28 bases, made several highlight-reel defensive plays and earned a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Had fellow center fielder Jarren Duran made the Red Sox out of spring training, Rafaela likely would be in Worcester. Instead, he will return to Double-A, where he appeared in 71 games and saw his stock rise.
“Obviously, he’s made a ton of progress and he’s an elite defender,” Abraham said. “He had a really good year, but I think he would probably argue that there are some areas for improvement, one of them being swing decisions.”
Abraham said he wants Rafaela to lay a strong foundation for another solid season and to understand that a big-league call could come just as easily while he’s in Portland as in Worcester.
“I just felt like, overall, it was a chance for him to go back to a place where he had a good number of (at-bats) but didn’t spend the whole year,” Abraham said, “at a place where he has some comfort and has some understanding of what he needs to improve upon.”
Portland’s full roster isn’t expected to be announced until Tuesday. Even so, Abraham shared his thoughts Monday about some of the players expected to figure prominently for the Sea Dogs this year.
Returning to the Portland infield are first baseman Niko Kavadas, shortstop Christian Koss and third baseman Matthew Lugo, a late-season call-up. Stephen Scott and Elih Marrero will return behind the plate.
The starting pitching rotation is likely to include Brian Van Belle, Shane Drohan, Sterling Sharp, Wyatt Olds and Chih-Jung Liu. Dorhan is the only lefty of the five. Sharp had a brief stint in the big leagues with the Marlins in 2020 and Van Belle made 15 starts for Portland last season.
Olds and Liu each started one game and Drohan five for the Sea Dogs in 2022.
Abraham said he is looking for each to continue to improve, through working on new pitches and maintaining strength and velocity throughout the season.
“The Eastern League is a difficult (level) in terms of facing major league-caliber position players,” he said. “The ability to face a lineup multiple times and work through a lineup for all five of them, I think, will be important. To be able to pitch multiple innings, to be able to get deep in the game generally means that you’re having success and doing the right things.”
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