Chapter 1: Who is Brian Abraham and what is his role with the Red Sox?
Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring.
You don't get bored by baseball.
One thing the game needs is more people like you. You. You. You. You. You.
You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.
You.
And I'm watching guys in uniforms being instructed on how to take leads off first base. And Ace of Spades comes on. And to top it all off, here comes a guy that maybe has entered a new tax bracket because of all the money they were paying him for all the times that he has come on. That is farm director slash dream maker Brian Abraham of the Boston Red Sox.
It feels a little different, though, doesn't it? It does. It does. The smell of the air.
It's beautiful. Thanks for having me, as usual.
Let's just say that you might be sitting in that seat a few times. I can't wait for Joe Castiglione to grill you once again.
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Chapter 2: What are the current top prospects in the Red Sox organization?
Gordo's back in the Baseballs and Boring Studios. Zach Coe behind the glass. In all sincerity, we are very, very happy to talk to you, Brian. So this time of year is weird. I was just talking about this where we said, well, I asked the question to Gordo, which I still don't know what his answer was. But I asked him, I said, are they better, Red Sox better than 365 days ago?
And he, in Gordo, like, say hello, by the way. What's up?
How's it going, Brian? Gordo, what's up, man?
So, and he was saying how rightfully so that, hey, you know, this is a different conversation. You have to get in the postseason. What's that going to look like? And I said, well, no, but right now, because a year ago, Peyton Tolley and Conley Early are walking that path, going to the bad locker room with the bad food. Not the bad food. Not his great food. Great food. Different food.
Different food. and nobody knows who they are. Walking by the major league, certainly they aren't taking the hard left turn into the major league clubhouse. So a lot of things changing. And this year, Brian, that guy, Kyson Witherspoon, I've seen him walking back and forth. I'm like, remember that guy. Like that guy could be pitching for you in October. For you, is it weird in that respect?
This time of year, you say, wow, man, I remember. Like how far these guys have come.
Right? Yeah, it's pretty cool. I actually was talking to Connolly and Peyton this morning, talking to them about tomorrow morning we have our first official day of minicamp, a minor league camp. And one of the things we like to talk about is players in this room have the opportunity to make an impact in the big leagues. And those two are front and center of that conversation.
You know, we do things here in the sense for pitching. We don't have a lot of our starting pitchers that aren't on the 40-man be a part of big league camp. So there are probably some guys who could be in that conversation, but the focus is on development, focus on the preparation for the season. But I think those two very much represent wherever they start might not be where they finish.
And I certainly think we have a few guys that fit that mold this year.
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Chapter 3: How does Brian Abraham assess the team's improvement over the past year?
He's added a, a fastball to seamer that has, that will go the other way compared to his four seam. I know we're still working on the breaking balls as well. I think a big thing for him is just being able to slow the game down at the highest level. Uh, I don't think he probably went into camp last year thinking he was going to be pitching in the big leagues necessarily.
I'm sure he hoped, but his transition, his progress, his path was really quick. So to go from high A all the way to double A to triple A and then ultimately pitch in the big leagues and
and in big games in september there was a lot of things moving fast and uh to be able to come to a spring training after he has been here a year he knows the coaching staff he knows what is expected he's pitching the playoffs uh to have that in his second full season uh he's in a much better spot mentally and and certainly physically as well you know he continues to improve his his body i know he's a big guy but just strength mobility um
his ability to repeat a delivery challenge in the strike zone. But we've definitely seen some progress. We had meetings the other day, and the most exciting thing about both those guys is they are really good arms currently, but there's a ton of room left for development, which to me is the most exciting thing.
And already, not even a question, maybe the best quote of all time, right? Really good quote. Really good quote. Gordo, am I wrong? No, that was elite.
That beat the carrot quote to me.
I did tell him yesterday we did have meetings to go over some of our players, and Peyton was one of the players that we talked about. And I told him that I stole the quote that he stole.
Off the T-shirt.
Off the T-shirt.
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Chapter 4: What are the key focuses for player development this spring?
We're not going to generalize you with a bunch of people. And I don't know if that's a very – from your perspective, if that's something you see.
Definitely. We're very transparent with information, but for every player in this organization, they should know where they are, where they're going, how they're going to get there. Every player's path is going to be different.
Every day they walk in the park, they might be doing different things, but when they step into the batting cage and they step on the mound, they should have a very clear idea of what their goals are, what they're working on. and how they're going to achieve those goals, and ultimately it's to be an impact player in Boston.
These guys in the big leagues that are majorly camped, they have particular goals. It might be to be an all-star. It might be to be an everyday player. It might be to make the team.
For our guys, it's ultimately about becoming a big leaguer, and some of those goals might not seem as beneficial in the present because we're going to challenge them and do some things that will provide sustainable success, but at the end of the day, it's for them to be really successful in Boston and not just Salem, Greenville, Portland, or Worcester.
Ryan, I want to ask you about Christian Campbell. He's probably the guy I'm most excited to watch this spring, and obviously he's going to get a lot of run with all the outfielders going to the WBC. But where do you think his swing is right now? What's changed? And do you think it's in a better spot than when he left at the end of last season?
I do. He's in a really good spot mentally, physically. In terms of his batting stance, he's lowered his hands a little bit, quieted the leg kick. Still aggressive, still powerful, but just has tried to simplify things.
I heard a quote of his the other day, and he was talking about getting on some of the sinkers that were coming down at him, making sure we can get to some of those pitches, then laying off them when he feels like he can't hit them. But his training has been incredibly good. We've really been excited about the way he's come into camp. He's a full year.
of Major League Baseball, of AAA Baseball, of adversity, something that he had not experienced because of his quick rise, but he's really hitting the ball hard. You know, the reality is some of the offseason adjustments and changes mechanically and everything is done, we really won't know until he steps out on the baseball field.
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Chapter 5: How are players like Conley Early and Mikey Romero progressing?
Because I saw him in spring training last year. He was a really, really good player in the Grapefruit League when he got a chance. He had a pretty good year. He obviously was a former first-round pick, had some bumps in the road along the way. I think people forget that he was a first-round pick, that he was a highly regarded guy, that he is a good player. And now he's in major league camp.
That's a very long-winded way of me asking you, how do you envision Mikey Romero right now?
Yeah, I'm not surprised he gave that answer. We've made some acquisitions to the infield space that creates more competition. He spent a lot of season last year in AAA, playing third base, playing second base. He's been through a lot of adversity in his career, even though it's been a short amount of time. Like I said, first-round pick, there's expectations with that.
He got injured, has kind of... He's been inconsistent at times, but last year was his first full season of health. He's bigger now, man. He's bigger. Well, actually, I will say, last year he came in really strong physically. He was bigger. He's actually providing the same outputs in terms of the power that he has. in the weight room, but he's a little bit lighter.
So he still has that physical presence, but the power is still there, which I think is a better place for him, especially on the defensive side, which is a real focus.
So what you're saying is he's in the best shape of his life.
Best shape of his life season.
Are you in the best shape of your life?
I'd like to think so. My family's here.
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Chapter 6: What changes have been made to the Red Sox minor league camp?
his first year stateside was last year outfielder play all three spots a ton of power hits the ball really hard I think the biggest thing for him will just making sure that he swings the pitches in the strike zone I'll say Justin Gonzalez even though he is not probably a lesser name I think he's probably a little bit more of a name that most people know he's 6'5 6'6 and I think growing but another outfielder that again hits the ball incredibly hard has really good swing decisions and bat the ball despite the size
Um, but we're really excited to see. And, and, you know, I know, I know Rob mentioned them earlier, but the three start, the three starting pitches we drafted early, um, Witherspoon, Ionson and Phillips, uh, physically they're in great spots, uh, mentally they're in great spots and they've thrown a couple of lives and incredibly excited to pitch and compete against other teams. So, um,
I think those are the names I have for you now. I promise you as guys come in here and weigh in and see where they are, get work in, there'll be more. But I would say just overall, I think the floor of our system continues to rise. Guys are getting better, which is the goal of player development. And giving guys the opportunity to be impact players in Boston is really the goal here.
So while there might not be as many frontline position players as we've had in the past couple years, luckily they're the big leagues, but there's still a lot of names and players that are getting better.
Zach, you control the baseballs and boarding database. Can you plug that in? You got those names? Yep, I got them. All right, good. Last one. WBC, we know guys who major leaguers are going. Are there any minor leaguers from the Red Sox that are good going?
Jack Anderson is playing for Great Britain, and Eduardo Rivera is playing for Puerto Rico. Okay. So pretty – I mean, we have a big contingent. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of guys going, which will be pretty exciting to root for guys that are part of the organization.
Well, it also is going to be an opportunity to see – like Christian Campbell is the big winner. Yeah. He's going to get a ton of play, especially if, you know, you look at if Roman goes, we don't know yet. Wilson Contreras, we're still waiting to hear. But there could be a ton of guys. So I look forward to it. There's nothing more exciting – than spring training baseball. It's a blast.
There's nothing more exciting than you being here on the Baseballs and Boring Show. I appreciate your expert insight analysis. I appreciate your family being here. I appreciate everything about this. So thanks. T-shirt for everybody. Thank you.
T-shirt for everybody. Thanks for having me. It's dream-making season.
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