BALLOU ON BASEBALL... for the final time this season

The Worcester Red Sox’ second season in town, their first that could be looked at as normal — whatever that definition is these days — had two levels of success.

The WooSox were fabulously successful on the business side. They established themselves as one of the premier franchises in minor league baseball, drawing 546,055 fans to Polar Park. If you add their road attendance of 413,454, the team played before almost 960,000 fans over the course of the season.

Those are great numbers. Could they get to 1,000,000 overall one of these years?

The on-the-field numbers were good, but not as good as off-the-field.

The WooSox won their final two games of the season to finish in the black at 75-73. They won one more game than in 2021 when they played 128. While two games above .500 was not an overwhelming achievement, it allowed the WooSox to post the first back-to-back winning records by one of Boston’s Triple-A teams since the 2013 and 2014 Pawtucket Red Sox both finished above .500.

Those were the last two teams in a four-year run of success at Pawtucket. The PawSox were in the black for four straight seasons with a combined record of 315-253. The 148 games this year, out of a possible 150, were the most played by one of Boston’s Triple-A affiliates since 1964 when the Seattle Rainiers played 156 games.

The minors all reduced their schedules the following season.

The revolving door that became the Boston Red Sox roster had a major impact on Worcester’s won-lost record, that and a bizarre 10-game losing streak in early May when it scored just 27 runs. Another equally perplexing problem was the WooSox’ inability to beat the Syracuse Mets.

Shades of 1986.

Worcester was 11-16 against the Mets, just 6-9 at Polar Park. Syracuse was 48-74 against the rest of the league, 26-34 in road games. A larger issue was the WooSox’ record at home, 36-39. The five teams ahead of them in the International League East standings all had winning records in their own ballparks.

In general, won-lost records in the minors are looked at as being important when they are good, unimportant when they are not. Boston tends to evaluate its farm system according to how many major league players are developed there.

How did the WooSox do in that department?

Worcester was 9-2 after 11 games, at which point it seemed that a record of 148-2 was entirely possible, if not likely. Half of that season-opening roster wound up in Boston at some time in the season and many of those players were significant contributors with the parent Sox.

That list includes players such as Jeter Downs, Yolmer Sanchez, Jarren Duran, Connor Wong, Franchy Cordero, Triston Casas, and Rob Refsnyder, as well as pitchers Zack Kelly, Kaleb Ort, John Schreiber, Connor Seabold, Josh Winckowski and Tyler Danish.

Five players made their major league debuts after playing for the WooSox in 2022 — Winckowski, Downs, Brayan Bello, Casas and Frank German. Early returns hint that Bello and Casas will be the cream of that crop. The best of the callups, though, at least for 2022, were veterans Refsnyder and Schreiber, both great stories.

Refsnyder, 31, has never played a full year in the major leagues depending on how you count the 2020 mini-season. Hopefully, he has found a home in Boston. In 100 games this year to date — counting Worcester, Portland and Boston — Refsnyder was batting .319 with 26 doubles, 14 home runs and 52 RBIs. He has been a tremendous Triple-A player through the years but that success never translated to the majors until 2022.

It was the same with Schreiber, 28. Going into the season he had a 2.16 ERA in the minors, 5.97 in 29 games with Detroit. Sometimes Triple-A can be as much about player redevelopment as player development.

The 2022 Worcester Red Sox are history and the year goes down as a winner with a bit of a disappointment. While Polar Park was filled with fans, a bit too often they went home disappointed with the outcome, if not with the atmosphere. The WooSox are scheduled to commence their third season next March 31 at Polar Park.

Baseball in March — that atmosphere should be interesting, and something to look forward to.

TRIPLE A TRIVIA

1. What former Red Sox Triple-A manager, now a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, holds the record for most different big league teams managed by a former Boston Triple-A skipper?

2. Who holds the Boston Triple-A record for the most wins in a season by a pitcher born and raised in Massachusetts?

Answers below.

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GOING DEEP………

The WooSox’ 181 home runs were the sixth-most ever by a Boston Triple-A partner going back to when the Red Sox first created a farm system in the late 1930s.

The 1996 PawSox hold the record with 209 homers. The WooSox’ total this season was the most among Boston’s Triple-A teams since the 2004 Pawtucket Red Sox hit 192. Worcester’s 275 doubles were the fourth-most ever in the Red Sox’ Triple-A category. Pawtucket set the mark with 310 in 2004. The PawSox had 285 the next year and this is the most since then.

This year’s WooSox shared the wealth. Nobody hit 20 homers, Christin Stewart leading with 19, but 20 different batters hit at least one.

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BITS AND PIECES…..

Chad Tracy’s 75 victories as manager place him 27th on Boston’s all-time Triple A list. What is interesting is that Tracy is sandwiched between two guys who had excellent major league playing careers, but managed just the one season in Sox Triple-A. Gary DiSarcina is just ahead of Tracy with 77 victories, Rico Petrocelli just behind with 71. … Ironman Ryan Fitzgerald played in 127 games. That is the most by a Red Sox Triple-A player since Chris Marrero got into 131 in 2016 and the third most in that category in 11 seasons. … Jaylin Davis got hot at season’s end to lift his batting average into the .200 range. He was 7 for 22 and hit safely in each of the last six games. Davis homered in consecutive games on Sept. 25 and 26 after going without a home run since June 21. … Nick Sogard had a very solid rookie Triple-A year in general, but did not hit a home run in 237 plate appearances. The last Boston Triple-A player to match that was Angel Sanchez for Pawtucket in 2010, who got up 252 times without hitting a home run. The good news for Sogard — Sanchez played four seasons and 185 games in the major leagues. … For decades, minor league baseball shut down after Labor Day except for playoffs. September baseball in the minors is an idea whose time has come again. In two seasons at Polar Park the WooSox have averaged 7,482 for 16 openings after Labor Day.

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TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Dick Williams, who managed the Toronto Maple Leafs when they were Boston’s Triple-A partner in 1965 and ’66, later managed six major league teams including the Red Sox. Williams took his teams to the World Series five times.

2. Brian Rose from Dartmouth had one of the best seasons in Red Sox Triple-A history at age 21, going 17-5 for the Pawtucket Red Sox in 1997. Rose’s career was eventually derailed by arm injuries and he won just 15 games in the major leagues.

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LINING THEM UP…..

There was never any standard lineup for the WooSox, at least after the first couple of weeks of the season. Each position, though, had one player who started more games there than any other. So, the most used position players by position were:

Catcher, Ronald Hernandez; first base, Triston Casas; second base, Yolmer Sanchez; shortstop, Jeter Downs; third base, Nick Sogard; left field, Christin Stewart; center field, Jarren Duran; right field, Johan Mieses.

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CATCHING UP WITH….

Right-handed pitcher David Pauley, who tied with knuckleballer Charlie Zink for the Pawtucket Red Sox lead in wins with 14 in 2008 and spent parts of five seasons in the major leagues, owns the Core4Baseball instructional program in Spicewood, Texas, not far from Austin.

Outfielder Bubba Bell, who was in Pawtucket in 2009 and 2010 and led the PawSox in batting average at .293 in 2010, is in his native central Texas where he is the president of Paveworks, a company whose name speaks for itself.