PawSox Ready to Open 2019 Season in Syracuse

The preliminary PawSox 2019 Opening Day roster - the club still must make one move to get to the roster limit of 25 active players - features many familiar faces (18 of the 26 players have played for Pawtucket at some point including 15 last year), but only four were on Pawtucket's Opening Night roster last season (Shepherd, Lin, Miller and Castillo).

There are seven newcomers to the Red Sox organization but 5 of those 7 are pitchers (Mejia, Ramirez, Runzler, Tapia & Weber) and only two are position players (catcher Juan Centeno & outfielder Gorkys Hernández). Furthermore, 14 players have spent time in the Major Leagues (8 with the Boston Red Sox). Lastly, the average age of the 2019 PawSox Opening Day roster is 27.6 years-old compared to 27.3 last year.
Pawtucket's starting staff will include three returnees and two newcomers - all of whom are right-handers. Mike Shawaryn , at 24 the youngest pitcher on the staff, will get the nod on Opening Day on Thursday at 2:05 pm in Syracuse. He split last season between Double-A Portland & Pawtucket and compiled a combined 3.44 ERA (5^th best in the Sox system). He will be followed in the rotation by Chandler Shepherd , 26, who is back for his third full season with Pawtucket (2017 as a reliever and 2018 as a starter for the first time in his career). Josh A. Smith , 31, the righty who made 10 starts for the PawSox last season (and is not to be confused with Josh D. Smith who was a lefty pitcher for the PawSox last year) will start the third game of the season. Ryan Weber , 28, who was signed by the Red Sox as a free agent this past December after an outstanding 2018 season with the Durham Bulls (AAA-Tampa Bay) when he posted a 2.73 ERA (4^th best in the International League), will start the series finale in Syracuse on Sunday afternoon. Pawtucket 5^th starter in the rotation will get the nod in Buffalo next Monday when ErasmoRamirez, 28, makes his Red Sox organizational debut. He has appeared in 192 major league games (92 starts) with Seattle (2013-15 & 2017-18) and Tampa Bay (2015-17).
The PawSox bullpen features five members who have pitched for Pawtucket in the past and three newbies. Righties Trevor Kelley (who was born in Providence) and Travis Lakins (who had a combined 2.32 ERA last year) both spent time in Portland and Pawtucket last year, while Marcus Walden appeared in both Boston (making the 2018 Red Sox Opening Day roster) and Pawtucket. Returning lefty relievers are Bobby Poyner , who made 33 relief appearances with Pawtucket and 20 with Boston last season, and Josh Taylor , who was acquired from Arizona for former PawSox SS Deven Marrero last May and spent the bulk of the year with Portland (33 games) before one appearance with the PawSox. Among the more intriguing off-season acquisitions for the Red Sox who will work out of the PawSox 'pen is former New York Met closer Jenrry Mejia (pronounced Henry Mejia) had 28 saves for the Mets in 2014 but was suspended by Major League Baseball for the entire 2016-2018 seasons after violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program for the third time. Left-hander Dan Runzler , the former San Francisco Giant (2009-12) and Pittsburgh Pirate (2017) who just turned 34 and is the elder statesman on the team, and former Louisville (AAA-Cincinnati) right-hander Domingo Tapia  round out the bullpen.
The PawSox have two veteran major league catchers on their roster led by Sandy León , who is in his 13^th professional season and his 5^th in the Red Sox organization. He has spent all of the last two years with Boston and appeared in a career-high 89 games for the 2018 World Series Champs while leading Major League Baseball with a 3.29 catcher's ERA (the lowest by a qualifying Red Sox catcher since at least 1974). JuanCenteno has seen major league action in each of the last six seasons with the Mets (2013-14), Milwaukee (2015), Minnesota (2016), Houston (2017), and Texas (2018). Jake Romanski saw limited action last season (mainly with Single-A Salem), but played for the PawSox in August of 2017.
Highly-touted 23-year-old third base/first base prospect Michael Chavis , the second youngest member of the PawSox (just over two months older then fellow 1B Josh Ockimey), is coming off an impressive spring training with the Red Sox where he led the club in both HR (4) and RBI (10) in just 22 at-bats. Chavis (pronounced like Davis) comes into the season as the #1 prospect in the Red Sox organization according to MLB.com. The aforementioned Josh Ockimey, also 23, belted 20 HR and had 71 RBI (both 2^nd most among all Red Sox minor leaguers last season) playing for Portland and Pawtucket. Tzu-Wei Lin , a talented 25-year-old from Taiwan who has performed well for both Boston and Pawtucket the past two years, will play both in the infield and outfield as will the versatile Tony Renda who graduated in 2009 from Serra High School (San Mateo, CA), the same school that produced a certain G.O.A.T. by the name of Tom Brady (as well as Barry Bonds). Mike Miller , who was one of the hottest hitters in baseball last July (394) and August (.356) will play all over the infield in what will be his third full season with the PawSox and his 5^th year overall in Pawtucket. Nick Lovullo, son of former PawSox manager, Red Sox coach, and current Arizona Diamondbacks skipper Torey Lovullo, and also a product of Holy Cross in Worcester, will make his Triple-A debut in 2019. 
The outfield will feature two-time International League All-Star and defending IL batting champion (.319 last year) RusneyCastillo who has a .297 career batting average with the PawSox as he begins his 5^th season with Pawtucket. Another popular outfielder returns to the fold after a year playing in Las Vegas (formerly AAA-Mets) as Bryce Brentz , owner of 72 career homeruns with the PawSox is back (Sam Bowen is the all-time Pawtucket HR king with 105). Brent was an IL All-Star in 2017 when he belted 31 HR to become the first PawSox player to win the IL HR title since Earl Snyder in 2004. Cole Sturgeon , who spent the final three and a half months of last season with the PawSox after batting .365 for Portland to begin 2018, will play all three outfield positions again. While Castillo is the oldest position player on the roster (he turns 32 on July 9), the PawSox signed another veteran 31-year-old outfielder this off-season with the acquisition of former San Francisco Giant Gorkys Hernandez, who will be 32 on September 7. Gorkys is in his 14^th professional season and played in a big league career-high 142 games for the Giants last season (hitting .234 with 15 HR & 40 RBI). 
New PawSox manager Billy McMillon, 47, had been Boston's Minor League Outfield & Baserunning Coordinator for the past three seasons after a six year stint as a manager in the Red Sox system…2010 & '11 with Greenville (low-A), 2012 & '13 with Salem (high-A), and 2014 & '15 with Portland (AA). Billy, who this June 22 will be inducted in the International League Hall of Fame in pre-game ceremonies at McCoy Stadium, had a 12-year playing career that included parts of six seasons in the major leagues as an outfielder with the Florida, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Oakland. He was an outstanding player for four different teams in the International League from 1996-2002 finishing with a career batting average of .310 with 79 HR in 609 IL games. Billy won the league batting title, IL Rookie of the Year honors, and was an All-Star when he hit .352 for Charlotte (AAA-Marlins) in 1996. After parts of three seasons with Scranton/WB (Phillies), he went to Toledo (AAA-Detroit) in 2000 and captured his second IL batting crown (.hitting .345 for the Mud Hens) while earning his second IL All-Star nod. Two years later he played his final season in the IL for Columbus (Cleveland) in 2002 where he hit .301 and was named to his third IL All-Star team.  
Pitching coach Kevin Walker made his PawSox and Triple-A debut last season. 2019 will mark his 11th year as a coach in the Red Sox system. In 2018, Walker's pitchers set a new Pawtucket franchise-record with 1,221 strikeouts as Sox hurlers struck out exactly one batter per inning last season. Sox pitchers also posted the 2^nd best ERA in the International League at 3.43 in 2018.
Former PawSox and Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman enters his 5^th season as Pawtucket hitting coach and his 9^th year as a coach in the Red Sox system. The club hit .249 in 2018 led by OF Rusney Castillo who won the IL batting title with a .319 average (becoming the first PawSox batting champ since Wade Boggs in 1981). The Worcester, MA native was an American League All-Star with the Red Sox in 1985 & '86 and is 4^th in Red Sox history with 858 games caught.
Rounding out the PawSox field staff will be coach Bruce Crabbe, back for his 6^th year with the club and his 15^th in the Red Sox system. New Trainer David Herrera has been promoted after 11 seasons with various Red Sox affiliates. He will work closely with new strength & conditioning coach Chris Messina, who moves up from Portland, and assistant trainer Matt Smith who will be making his PawSox debut.