Bristles at Fenway

If you were at Fenway Park tonight, or watched closely on TV, you would have seen the Lowell Spinners own Bristles at tonight’s Red Sox game. A special guest for Tuesday Tooth Night, the nine-foot Spinners mascot was thrilled to be a part of the pre-game festivities.

Bristles was seen hanging out with one of his closest friends, Wally the Green Monster, while at the game. He posed for pictures, honored special guests, and participated in pre-game ceremonies.

For more Spinners/Red Sox cross-over, be sure to attend Lowell’s August 10 game, featuring a special guest appearance by Wally as the Spinners prep to take the field for the August 11 Futures at Fenway event.

Pair of Spinners Hurlers Move Up

The Spinners sent a pair of pitchers who dominated the NY-Penn League up the Red Sox ladder this week to Greenville.  Brantley New moved up after allowing just one earned run in 10 innings of work out of the bullpen for the Spinners.  New has been limited to bullpen duty after already working 106 innings during his college season for Mercer University.  The 23-year-old was a 27th round pick by the Red Sox in this year’s draft. In his first outing for Greenville New pitched three scorless relief innings against Kannapolis.

 Jimmy James, 22, was the best pitcher in the NY-Penn League before his promotion.  James was signed out of Venezuela in 2002 and earned GCL pitcher of the year honors in 2004 at age 18.  However, amidst another successful GCL stint in 2005 James blew out his arm and missed all of 2006 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  In his first action since the surgery this year, James was totally dominant.  He allowed only 11 baserunners in 19 innings and struck out 19 hitters.  His ERA was 0.47.

 Best of luck to these two as they move along the Road to Fenway.

Mills in Houston for Clemens Award Presentation

You may have noticed that Spinners righthander Adam Mills has been inactive the last few days.  That’s because he’s in Houston for the presentation of the Roger Clemens Award, which is awarded every year to the nation’s best collegiate pitcher; essentially the college Cy Young.

Mills is a finalist for the award after going 14-2 with a 1.01 ERA this season for Charlotte.  Mills has the most wins and the lowest ERA of any college pitcher.  He was also a major reason the 49ers had the lowest team ERA in all of college baseball.  They went on to win the Atlantic 10 tournament, with Mills collecting A-10 pitcher of the year honors, and advanced to the final of the Columbia, SC regional, just a step away from the college world series.

The other two finalists for the award are David Price of Vanderbilt, who was the first overall pick in this year’s draft by Tampa Bay, and Jacob Thompson, a sophomore at the University of Virginia.

Check out this Baseball America chat with Mills and Price for some interesting information about their collegiate success and beginning to their pro careers (Price has not yet signed with the Devil Rays).

Price won the award late last night.

Mills has been solid for the Spinners for far this year, posting a 1-1 record with one save and a 3.18 ERA in 11.2 innings of work. As he mentioned in the chat, the Red Sox probably do not want him to throw many innings after he worked 142.2 innings as Charlotte’s ace, so he has worked out of the Lowell bullpen, making four appearances.

Donnelly Next for Lowell Rehab on Friday

Spinners fans just saw Red Sox pitcher Joel Pineiro contribute to the Spinners win with a flawless inning to start Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Batavia. On Friday, Red Sox reliever Brendan Donnelly is scheduled to make the trip to Lowell for his first rehab appearance since going on the DL on June 24th with a strained forearm.

Don’t miss Red Sox action at LeLacheur Park on Friday, July 13th. The game against Batavia is scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m. with the gates opening at 5:30 p.m. As always, standing room tickets are available for the game, and our ushers make every effort to seat our standing room customers. Additional seats may open up one hour before game time. Call 978-459-1702 to speak with the Spinners Ticket Office.

Donnelly has a 3.04 ERA in 20.2 innings with the Red Sox this season.

Double-A hitters can’t touch Masterson, Hunter

Welcome to Double-A, Justin Masterson. The former Spinner who has been dominating the California League with Lancaster pitched 6 2/3 innings for Portland last night without allowing a hit in his first outing at the Double-A level. Masterson walked two and struck out nine New Hampshire batters.

Hunter Jones, a left-handed member of the 2005 Spinners who also recently arrived in Portland, retired the next six batters to bring the Sea Dogs hurlers within one out of a combined no-hitter. Unfortunately, Lyle Overbay, a career .289 hitter in the majors who is on a rehab assignment, singled on a ground ball up the middle.

Offensively, the Sea Dogs pounded out 14 hits including two from Bubba Bell, the former Spinner who was promoted with Masterson. The multihit game ended a 2 for 13 mini-slump since being called up for Bell.

Jed Lowrie, who was in Tewksbury Sunday to sign autographs for the Joann Weber Foundation, went 1 for 5. Lowrie is hitting .342 so far in July, he also homered from both sides of the plate on Sunday against New Hampshire.

Kalish Top Thief in Red Sox System for June

Spinners lead-off man and center fielder Ryan Kalish was the top basestealer in the Red Sox minor league system in June.  Kalish succeeded in all 10 of his stolen base attempts during the month.

Kalish got off to a quick start on opening night at LeLacheur Park when he led off the season by reaching on an error, then stole second base.  That was the first night of a four-game streak during which Kalish reached first in each of his first at-bats of the evening, then stole second.

Kalish has added four stolen bases to his total in July, although he was caught for the first time this season, leaving him 14 for 15 on the year. 

Lowell is second in the New York-Penn League in stolen bases with a total of 27.  The team’s other two top basestealers are Yamaico Navarro with 5 and Pedro Vasquez with 4.

Former Spinners won many of the other Red Sox minor league awards for June.  ‘06 Spinner Ryan Khoury, playing with High-A Lancaster, was the defensive player of the month.   Justin Masterson, also a member of last year’s Lowell team, was the pitcher of the month at Lancaster before his promotion to Portland.  Another member of last year’s team, Jon Still, was the offensive player of the month for his performance at Class A Greenville.  Still, a fourth-round pick last year from North Carolina State, hit .337 with 9 homers and 27 RBI in 83 at-bats in June.

Movin’ On Up

Bubba Bell and Justin Masterson, the pair of former Spinners that have been dominating the California league, have been promoted to Double-A Portland. 

Bell, the 39th round pick of the Red Sox in 2005, struggled in the South Atlantic League last year before getting hot during a 23 game run with Lowell.  Bell was the MVP of the California-Carolina All-Star game this year and was on pace to hit 37 homers and drive in 140 runs with the JetHawks.

Masterson, a second round selection by the Red Sox a year ago, was dominant last year at Lowell and has done well this year in the California League, going 8-5 with a 4.33 ERA in many hitter-friendly ballparks.  He was also a member of the California League All-Star team.

No. 1 Draft Pick Hagadone Signed, Assigned to Lowell

The Red Sox announced today that No. 1 Draft Pick Nick Hagadone has officially signed and been assigned to the Lowell Spinners. Click below for the official report from Ian Browne. The left-handed pitcher was 6-1 with 11 saves and a 2.77 ERA this spring with the University of Washington. Hagadone was drafted 55th overall in last month’s First-Year Player Draft.

Red Sox ink top pick

Pineiro To Rehab in Lowell

The Red Sox just announced that pitcher Joel Pineiro is scheduled to make a rehab appearance in Lowell when the Spinners return home on Wednesday, July 11th against the Batavia Muckdogs.

As always, don’t let the Sold Out status scare you away. Standing room tickets are always available, and seats may open up as we get closer to the game, or even an hour before game-time.

Pair of Former Spinners Heading to Eastern League All-Star Game

Jed Lowrie and Clay Buchholz were both All-Stars for the 2005 Spinners and both have continued to succeed as they move toward Boston.  They have repeated their performance with Double-A Portland this year; both have been invited to the 2007 Eastern League All-Star Game July 11th in Norwich, Connecticut.

Buchholz has dominated Eastern League hitters this season, posting a league-leading 1.69 ERA in 15 starts.  He is also the only Eastern League pitcher who is allowing less than one baserunner per inning, posting a WHIP of just 0.87.

Lowrie, who was selected 45th overall by the Red Sox in the 2005 draft from Stanford University, hit .328 in 53 games for the Spinners.  Lowrie has been the Sea Dogs top hitter, posting a team-leading .295 average to go with 22 doubles and 7 triples.  He has also walked 48 times.

 Lowrie and Buchholz will be joined by Charlie Zink who is 8-2 with a 2.59 ERA for the Sea Dogs.