Worcester closes their playoff chase with a loss, ending the season and starting early discussions on where some pieces go.
Last game of the season? Give up six runs in the last inning of the season. Worcester’s 2024 bullpen suffered a collapse only fit for a Red Sox farm team. But, hey, Bobby Dalbec, AAAA extraordinaire, put on somewhat of a clinic in perhaps the last time he suits up for this organization, and the WooSox got some help from an unlikely source at the plate. For the last time in 2024… let’s get into it.
Worcester: L, 4-7 (BOX SCORE)
Let me be clear: with Kyle Teel sitting, Bobby Dalbec playing shortstop, and a third of the lineup (including Alex Binelas) having just been called up from Portland at their season’s end, Chad Tracy was not putting stock in this game for any reason than to evaluate the team’s performance against promising (if not AAA-level to the core) Phillies prospect Alan Rangel.
And yet, they stood a chance. Jason Alexander held the opposition scoreless for five innings. And, despite closing the season with only three strikeouts Sunday, he led the team in the stat as well as innings pitched for 2024. Cam Booser opened the door back up, and then Jose Adames came in the game for the save and allowed two runs to open the door again… and then Darick Hall drove a bulldozer through it with a two-outs grand slam, a play that gave the IronPigs an insane .729 WPA. Probably felt like you were watching the Major League team.
But the bats were commendable if not a tad dry. Tyler McDonough, himself a 2024 callup through the organization, went 3-for-4, and new WooSox (WooSock?) Max Ferguson drove him in one of the three times. Bobby Dalbec even finished out his tenure on the squad (more on that in a few paragraphs) with a stolen base on top of his double.
Of course it stung to blow a three-run lead that late, but taking the temperature on key pieces to end the season makes this only a marginal loss.
So, where do the guys just beyond the pale (or, if you prefer to pick on what now becomes Craig Breslow’s sandbox for the winter, the pail works too…) stand in 2025? Here’s what SoxProspects projects as Worcester’s lineup in AAA.
Of course, these are projections, but there are some glaring omissions: Jason Alexander and Bobby Dalbec have probably played well enough for another role, albeit not here. I’m not entirely sure I love the idea of Quinn Priester being the anchor of the AAA rotation, but perhaps as the return for Nick Yorke, a former first round pick, it’s warranted. Also notice the Drohan show returning and Isaac Coffey rightfully getting his call. All three of the big three also start in Worcester. I tried to find hyped prospects landing on Worcester’s roster for an Opening Day before, but I can’t: and if that sounds like an indictment, it might be. The real “big three” of the last decade (Bogaerts, Devers, Betts, if I’m not being clear enough) came up during different times, but all had a meteoric mid-season rise all the way from Portland to starting the next season in the Opening Day lineup, because the powers that be at the time saw promise and just struck while the iron was hot rather than stockpiling homegrown talent at the same minor league level. I’m not quite confident in this front office’s willingness to pull that trigger, and that’s ironic considering we had, by all accounts, the cheapest rotation of any contending (using that word VERY VERY loosely) team in 2024.
Here are the AAA team’s leaders in innings pitched and OPS in 2024, including a guy who’s finishing out the year by being serviceable in a Boston uniform in the rotation, and one that may well get his taste of the Major Leagues early in 2025…. or at least should (Meidroth). But, hey, the only way we know what happens is to let things play out, so let’s do that.
So ends the 2024 Minor Lines, and my second full season at OTM. Hard to believe I’ve been writing here more than two calendar years now. Time to purge my computer of ~600 screenshots of box scores; the next time I take a screenshot of one, it’ll be March and I’ll be weeks away from earning my Master’s Degree. It’s been a pleasure to be on these the lion’s share of the time this season and your words of encouragement (including those about my mother, who’s doing well) have been much appreciated, especially given the emphasis the Red Sox front office says they put on contending in the future. You’ll see me pontificating about that future in 2025 and beyond throughout the winter, so don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. Be well, and have a happy Monday!