The 2023 baseball regular season is coming to an end for the majors. It’s playoff time in the minors, and the Boston Red Sox High-A affiliate, the Greenville Drive, have claimed the South Atlantic League Championship, sweeping their series over the Hudson Valley Renegades, the New York Yankees High-A affiliate. Some names on the Greenville Drive for prospects are SS/2B Mikey Romero, who is the Red Sox seventh-ranked prospect, RHP Luis Perales, who is the Red Sox tenth ranked prospect and their second-ranked pitching prospect, INF Eddinson Paulino, who is ranked 21st in the Red Sox system, RHP Yordanny Monegro who is the Red Sox 22nd ranked prospect, LHP Dalton Rogers who ranks 27th in the Red Sox system, SS/2B Cutter Coffey who ranks 29th, and OF Allan Castro who ranks 30th in the system.
Road to the Championship
In the minor leagues, it’s a different playoff format: teams who have the best record at the end of the first half clinch a playoff spot, and then the teams who have the best record in the second half clinch the other playoff spot; however, if the same team has the best record at the second half, then the second-place team claims the spot. Greenville claimed a playoff spot by winning the first half of the season, going 36-30; in the second half, they finished 27-39, which put them in fourth overall. They finished the season with a 63-69 record, which was also good enough for fourth in the South Atlantic League’s South Division, but that first half got them into the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, they took on the Hickory Crawdads, the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers; the Drive would sweep that series, beating Hickory in game one 3-2 and then winning game two 6-3.
Championship Series
In the championship series, it was time to face off with the Hudson Valley Renegades, who had won their series over the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies; the Renegades lost their series two games out of three.
In game one of the series, the Drive had Perales start the game, and he went six innings, giving up just one hit, walked two, and struck out four. The Drive won the game 2-0, with the offense led by Ronald Rosario, who went 1-3 on the day and drove in a run; outfielder Kristian Campbell had the other RBI in the victory for the Drive. The Greenville bullpen pitched three innings, giving up just one hit and striking out five.
In game two of the series, the Drive would win 7-3, with Dalton Rogers getting the start, going three innings giving up one run on two hits; he walked two and struck out five. Rogers would turn the ball over to Zach Penrod, who went five innings, giving up two runs on three hits; he walked one and struck out seven. Felix Cepeda would get the last inning of the game and record the last out to secure the championship; he would give up one hit and strike out two. The Greenville offense was led by Kristian Campbell, who scored 3-4 with a run and three RBI come on a three-run home run in the seventh inning that put the game out of reach. Eddinson Paulino also added two hits and drove in two runs; the other two RBI came from Rosario and Tyler Miller.
Players of the Championship Series
- Luis Perales: W, 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
- Zach Penrod: W, 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
- Kristian Campbell: 3-6, R, HR, 3 RBI, BB
- Eddinson Paulino: 2-10, 2B, 2 RBI
- Allan Castro: 2-6, 2 R, 4 BB
- Ronald Rosario: 2-6, R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB
- Gilberto Jimenez: 2-8,R, 2 2B
