March 2, 2009 at 1:02 PM
March 2 Fort Report
The SoxProspects staff made its first trip of the spring to Ft. Myers this weekend ... A significant percentage of players are already in camp ... In minor league mini-camp, it appears that Will Middlebrooks and Bryan Peterson both bulked up quite a bit this off-season, adding noticeable muscle to their frames ... Word is that Che-Hsuan Lin, playing for Taiwan in the WBC, also added a lot of size since last Fall ... Lin and Chih-Hsien Chiang both impressed in ten scrimmages leading up to the WBC - some against Taiwanese pro teams and others against WBC teams ... Lin hit .395 and Chiang hit .324 .. Back in mini-camp, the players were tested on their 60-yard dash times recently - Ryan Dent, Derrik Gibson, and Ryan Westmoreland each ran phenomenal times ... Unfortunately, Middlebrooks tore his hamstring during drills this weekend, and will likely be out through April, possibly longer ... It looks as if Carson Blair will indeed be converted to a full-time catcher this season ... Alex Speier brings us a fantastic report on Anthony Rizzo, who has been cancer-free since November ... The Sox minor-leaguers were given yesterday afternoon off from field drills ... The WBC players who reported to Sox camp shipped off to join their WBC teams yesterday after the Sox defeated the Twins at the windy Lee County Sports Complex ... In that game, Paul McAnulty looked solid in the outfield, and has surprising agility for his stocky frame ... It's nice to see Josh Reddick back to his old, sweet swing ... Carlos Maldonado is a large man - he looks like he's running about 6'1', 265 ... Junichi Tazawa has showed a lot to Sox management in his two appearances against Boston College and Northeastern, pitching 3 hitless and scoreless innings, striking out 4 and walking 1 ... Tazawa is excited to face some actual pro compeition soon ... Angel Chavez is making the best of his opportunity to man third base while Mike Lowell is out, putting up a line of .333/.600/.333, which does not include his two home runs and six RBIs against Northeastern on Saturday ... File this under "never a good sign": Red Sox Rule 5 pick Miguel Gonzalez is headed to Alabama this week to get his elbow checked out by Dr. James Andrews ... In other news, the Sox have narrowed their search for a new spring training site down to four properties - two in the vicinity of the airport and two in Estero ... With Kansas City's signing of Juan Cruz, the Sox' placement in the 2009 draft is starting to clear up even more - the Sox will pick 28th in the first round and around 77th in the second round ... The placement of Boston's second round pick is dependant on the final landing places of free agents Manny Ramirez, Orlando Cabrera, Dennys Reyes, and Mark Grudzielanek.