Masterson gets ready for the 2008 season down in Florida. (AP Photo)
One thing that the Red Sox don't have a shortage of, thankfully, is good live young arms. Even the most casual of fans have become familiar with the names of Papelbon, Lester, Buchholz, Delcarmen, and even to a lesser extent Craig Hansen. Due in part to the overwhelmingly large and swift success of three of the previously mentioned names Justin Masterson has quietly been given the ability to develop and grow in our minor league system, and he's steadily climbed in numerous prospect lists over the past few seasons.
You may have heard Masterson's name mentioned numerous times over the winter as he was consistently mentioned in packages for Johan Santana. As we all know the Mets ended up obtaining Santana, and in retrospect, this may end up being a blessing in disguise for the Red Sox, as we were able to keep all of our young talent.
Masterson split his time in 2007 between single A and double AA where he pitched a total of 153.2 innings and had a pretty decent K to BB ratio. He struckout 115 and walked only 40 with a combined ERA of 4.335 and a record of 12-8. I really think that entering his third year playing professional baseball we'll really start to see Masterson take a large step into becoming a major league ballplayer, and think his spring performance will be very intriguing to watch. I'm sure he'd love to start in AAA Pawtucket, and think he could pitch his way onto that team.
Over at MinorLeaugeBall.com Masterson is ranked #6 in the Sox system, and is ranked #4 over at SoxProspects.com. From reading up on Justin, he seems to have a strong work ethic to go along with a solid character. His fastball can reach the mid-90's and has decent slider to boot. He's currently starting but most likely would convert to a reliever at the big league level. His development of a change-up could help his cause on all levels.
Don't expect Masterson to be pitching for the Red Sox in October, however I wouldn't be surprised if he finally gets his major league debut this year. It's a crowded land for pitchers on the Red Sox, but in the end performance outweighs everything, and I expect Masterson to continue to do that.
Look for him to have a strong spring, call it a hunch on my part.
Hello there! It's knowing that we have great young guys like Justin ready. Have a great week coming up, as we near spring training first pitch time!! GO SOX.
Posted by: Peter Naboicheck | February 18, 2008 at 01:02 PM
Ya man! First MLB win by Jamician born pitcher?
Posted by: Fan of Jamaica | May 20, 2008 at 10:19 PM