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Top Red Sox shortstop prospect playing with big league team Monday vs. Toronto (lineups)
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- Top Red Sox shortstop prospect playing with big league team Monday vs. Toronto (lineups)
Most Red Sox position players left camp over the weekend to start preparing for the World Baseball Classic. Those left behind weren’t tasked with making the 145-mile trip from Fort Myers to Dunedin on Monday. With at-bats readily available, then, Alex Cora will get a chance to look at the organization’s most intriguing young infield prospect against the Blue Jays.
20-year-old shortstop Franklin Arias was called up from minor league camp and will hit ninth against Toronto on Monday at TD Ballpark, hitting last in a different-looking Boston lineup. Arias, who finished the season with a 10-game cameo at Double-A, is ranked as the No. 49 prospect in baseball, according to Baseball America . The Athletic’s Keith Law was more bullish, ranking Arias at No. 12 in the game .
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Arias appeared in two major league spring games for the Red Sox last year and is expected to get an extended look this week with Wilyer Abreu , Jarren Duran , Ceddanne Rafaela , Willson Contreras , Masataka Yoshida and others off to the WBC and the Sox making long trips to Dunedin, Clearwater (Thursday) and Lakeland (Friday). Arias is one of a handful of call-ups from minor league camp along with fellow prospects Justin Gonzales and Yoeilin Cespedes .
“We’ll probably see him a lot this week,” Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) over the weekend . “It will be good for me to see him play, and for him to be around big leaguers and playing against big leaguers. So we’ll pick and choose what we want to do. There’s going to be certain guys that will come (over) and they will start. They’re not going to be backups.”
Only four members of Boston’s lineup Monday have major league experience ( Nick Sogard , Matt Thaiss , Mickey Gasper and Vinny Capra ). They will face righty Cody Ponce , who Toronto signed to a three-year, $30 million free agent deal over the winter. On the mound, there is some intrigue for the Red Sox, who will see Johan Oviedo make his second start of exhibition season. Oviedo remains in the driver’s seat for the No. 5 spot in the rotation but struggled with command in his debut. Rule 5 pick Ryan Watson will pitch in relief.
First pitch is at 1:05 p.m. ET.
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RED SOX (5-4) vs. BLUE JAYS (2-6-2) • TD Ballpark • Dunedin, FL
FIRST PITCH: 1:05 p.m. ET
TV CHANNEL: NESN
RADIO: WEEI 850 AM
PITCHING PROBABLES: RHP Johan Oviedo vs. RHP Cody Ponce
RED SOX LINEUP:
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CF Braiden Ward
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1B Nick Sogard
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C Matt Thaiss
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DH Mickey Gasper
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2B Vinny Capra
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RF Allan Castro
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LF Tyler McDonough
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3B Max Ferguson
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SS Franklin Arias
RED SOX PITCHERS:RHP Johan Oviedo, RHP Ryan Watson, RHP Kyle Keller , RHP Seth Martinez , LHP Jeremy Wu-Yelland
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