Ballou on Baseball - August 26, 2025

The semester is not over, so the WooSox will have to wait for their final report card marks.

To this point in the year, though, their grade should be “R” for resilient.

Roster volatility is a given in Triple-A. This season has been especially volatile for Worcester, certainly in terms of how many callups and trades have involved players who have been significant contributors, how many injuries there have been.

Of the players who played on March 28, Opening Day, only three played Sunday at Polar Park. They were Nick Sogard, Nathan Hickey and Nick Burdi.

In last Thursday’s doubleheader, a sweep by Jacksonville, manager Chad Tracy pieced together batting orders that had catchers Seby Zavala and Chadwick Tromp alternating at their regular positions and DH. At day’s end, the pair was 33-for-209 (.157) combined in a WooSox uniform.

Worcester lost again on Friday, making it three straight. The WooSox were just a game above .500 and the season seemed in danger of spiraling out of control. Instead, they bounced back to take two straight over the weekend from a team that was 75-48 after the doubleheader (best record in the league).

The WooSox have been staring over the cliff since late June, a step away from taking the plunge, but have managed to hold their ground. Considering all that has happened it is no small accomplishment.

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TRIPLE-A TRIVIA

1. Who is the last Red Sox Triple-A pitcher to hit a triple?
2. Which batter holds the Worcester Red Sox record for most sacrifice bunts in a season?

Answers below.

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In terms of attendance, the magic number for Polar Park is 9,508, what with the last three numbers being the city’s area code. Saturday’s crowd was the first to hit that number in 2025. The last previous time was Aug. 18, 2024.

However, the WooSox drew 9,700 last Sept. 14 for a 19-3 loss to Syracuse. That remains the largest crowd in team history. The loss was tied for the second most lopsided in team history.

Not that the WooSox would ever discourage anyone from coming to Polar Park, but their all-time record in games with crowds of 9,508 and higher is just 7-8.

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There are no Cal Ripkens in minor league baseball, so ironman is a relative term, but Nick Sogard is the WooSox reigning ironman. He has played in every game so far this month and 26 in a row going back to July 25 when he sat out a game in St. Paul.

The numbers are 31 of the last 32 including both games of three doubleheaders.

Sogard finished the homestand with a nine-game hitting streak. His career high is 10 set in April of last season. Sogard’s home run versus Jacksonville was his 24th as a WooSox. That is tied for ninth most all-time with Connor Wong and Wilyer Abreu.

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Last week in New York, Jhostynxon Garcia became the 47th player to make his major league debut after playing for the WooSox, the 35th to do it with Boston.

It was not an especially auspicious start as he struck out three times. It was also not an unusual start. Overall, 25 different position players have made their debuts after playing here and their combined batting average for their first plate appearance in the majors is .150.

The group, including players who debuted with teams other than Boston, is 3-for-20 with six walks, three singles and 10 strikeous.

The singles belong to Connor Wong, Ceddanne Rafaela and Marcus Wilson. Wilson had his hit for the Mariners.

The strikeout list includes Jeter Downs, Joey Meneses, Enmanuel Valdez, Wilyer Abreu, Jhonny Pereda, Nick Sogard, Kristian Campbell, Mattew Lugo, Marcelo Mayer and Garcia.

Jarren Duran, Jamie Westbrook, Mickey Gasper, Christian Koss, Chase Meidroth and Kyle Teel all walked. David Hamilton, Niko Kavadas, Roman Anthony, Jack Lopez, Triston Casas, Ryan Fitzgerald and Nick Yorke put balls in play but were out.

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There are no readily available records for such things, but P**ayton Tolle* left for Durham as the star of a movie called The Incredible Shrinking ERA. Seven batters into his Triple-A career Tolle’s earned run averag was 135.00. After 24 hitters it was 9.00, after 43 it was 4.50 and to date, after 59 batters, it is 3.60. Since allowing five earned runs in his first one-third of an inning, Tolle’s ERA is 0.61. … *David Hamilton’s* most recent stay in Worcester was eventful as he hit his fourth home run leading off a game, this one in Iowa. Before that he and *Roman Anthony* were tied at three apiece. … In another homer note, the WooSox have already set a team record by hitting eight grand slams. Opponents have hit six, well short of that mark which was set in 2023 when Worcester pitchers surrendered 10 slams. …Have the WooSox clandestinely hired *Ty Cobb* as a hitting consultant? Worcester batters dropped down four sacrifice bunts during an eight-game span through Sunday. They had two in the team’s previous 117 games. *Jhostynxon Garcia* and *Nick Sogard** had two in the same game in Iowa on Aug. 16. Not to be presumptuous about giving manager’s advice, but WooSox teams have never lost a game in which they’ve had two sacrifice bunts. Worcester is 2-0 in those games. … Christmas is not the only time it is more blessed to give than receive. WooSox pitchers have hit 88 batters, which leads the league. WooSox batters have been plunked 55 times, a middle of the pack number.

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WooSox third base and defensive coach Iggy Suarez is from New York City but is on his way to becoming an honorary New Englander. Earlier this summer Suarez tried a couple boxes of candlepin bowling. Some years before that he dismantled and ate his first lobster.

Suarez was playing in Portland at the time and attended a team party in Kennebunkport hosted by the Burke family, owners of the SeaDogs. Maine lobsters were the main course. However, Suarez has never been a seafood aficionado.

“I was in line with the kids, getting barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers, waiting my turn,” he said, “and a voice behind me said, ‘you can’t come to a lobster bake and not have lobster.’

“I turned around, got ready to explain for the 100th time why I’m not getting lobster, and it happened to be the 41st President of the United States. I’m not gonna say no.”

From there, President George H.W. Bush, a Kennebunkport mainstay, took over.

“He walked me through it,” Suarez recalled. “He got me the tray, got me the bib. Then he said the key was the butter — knuckle deep in butter. And that’s what I always remember — knuckle deep in butter.”

Advice straight from the Oval Office. Who can ignore that?

Lobster, candlepin bowling…the only thing left for Suarez is to try a fried clam.

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CATCHING UP WITH…

Abraham Almonte, who played 15 games for the WooSox in 2022, has split the year with two teams in the Mexican League, Tabasco and Oaxaca. Almonte is batting .288 with 10 home runs and 55 RBIs.

Also in the Mexican League, the Tijuana Toros have used four former WooSox players and one ex-Pawtucket Red Sox player. The Worcester guys are Franchy Cordero, Silvino Bracho, Matt Dermody and Philips Valdez. Teddy Stankiewicz pitched in Pawtucket.

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TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Journeyman righty Gary Wagner hit a triple for the Louisville Colonels in their 4-2 victory at Richmond on May 20, 1970, more than 55 years ago. Wagner spent parts of the 1969 and ’70 seasons with Boston and compiled a 4-4 record with the Sox.
2. Edd**y Alvarez** had seven sacrifice bunts in 2024. Alvarez led the team in that category as well as hit-by-pitch (13) and extra base hits (45).