Ballou on Baseball - July 29, 2025

By Bill Ballou,

Brooke Cooper is the WooSox general manager, but don’t ask her about trades, releases, signings, demotions or the draft.

That is not her job description.

The weather? That’s an entirely different story. In running the business side of the Worcester Red Sox, the heat is on.

“Once we get to June, this is what we’ve waited for all season,” she said. “We grind through April and May to get here. Complain about the heat? I won’t complain. This is what we’ve waited for, what we’ve dreamed about.”

Actually, June weather was not that good this year. For the most part, the season’s early months were cold and rainy. It showed in smaller crowds. It showed in the number of doubleheaders, which cut into attendance.

“Here in the northeast, you have to allow for that,” Cooper said. “I don’t know everybody’s numbers, but I know that throughout the Northeast the number of rainouts is up significantly and we haven’t even had the worst of it.”

Starting this week with Lehigh Valley at Polar Park, Worcester has 30 home games scheduled. That includes 12 in September. Until Major League Baseball took over the minors, their season ended on Labor Day. Now, September is one of the year’s best months at the gate.

“In the Northeast, it’s perfect weather, ideal for baseball,” Cooper said.

The WooSox are coming off an odd stretch of games that included six at home, 21 on the road. The home games included a doubleheader on July 2. The four Polar Park dates after that averageed 8,408.

Scheduling is essentially out of the team’s control. It is created by MLB and the minors have limited input.

“We can make requests,” Cooper said, “We ask, but we don’t always receive. Is there some flexibility? Well, yes, but really not much.”

The WooSox can request good weather for the next two months but will not necessarily receive it. The odds are in their favor, though. Last year they had just one home doubleheader after July 31 and they averaged 7,713 at the gate for the final two months.

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TRIPLE-A TRIVIA

1. Which two pitchers, one a southpaw and one a right-hander and both of whom have pitched in the major leagues this season, own the WooSox record for most home runs allowed in a game?

2. Who holds the Worcester Red Sox record for hitting the most singles in a season?

ANSWERS BELOW

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In the record-keeping department, those three games Chad Tracy missed versus S-W-B while on mandatory break are part of his record, not Iggy Suarez’. It is the same precedent as when Alex Cora missed a game in Boston earlier this season for his daughter’s college graduation, or even when John Farrell missed the last two months of 2015 with cancer and Torey Lovullo filled in. Farrell is credited with those games. … The daily box score review can be confusing for WooSox fans checking on whom the team’s alums are playing for in the majors. Or at least which Sox. The White Sox have featured six former Worcester players in their lineups so far in 2025. That includes Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel, Ryan Noda, Bobby Dalbec, Cam Booser and Martin Perez. Blake Sabol is in Triple-A Charlotte and should join the list at some point. … Baseball remains the ultimate whacky numbers sport. The WooSox played 663 games before one of their pitchers threw just one pitch in a game and earned a decision of some kind. It happened twice in their next eight games, both saves by Jose Adames. … Seby Zavala’s two homers in St. Paul allowed him to pass Bradley Zimmer for most home runs by a WooSox player whose last name starts with “Z.” Savala has six. Zimmer had five.

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Batting orders are among the things that are different in 21st Century baseball as opposed to the Babe Ruth game, or even the David Ortiz one. So far this season the WooSox have gotten more home runs from their No. 9 hitters than their cleanup men.

The difference is 13 from the ninth spot, 12 from cleanup including home runs from cleanup man Vaughn Grissom and No. 9 hitter Seby Zavala on Sunday. Number three hitters lead the way with 21 including Kristian Campbell’s on Sunday. Second-spot batters have the fewest with seven.

Along similar lines, Worcester batters have hit the most home runs in the first, third and fourth innings with 17 apiece. Second-most are the second and eighth innings with 13. They have hit 9 in the ninth, 2 in the 10th.

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TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Kyle Hart gave up four home runs versus Rochester on June 6, 2021 and Justin Hagenman was touched for four homers against Columbus on June 18, 2024, both at Polar Park. Hart has pitched for the Padres this season, Hagenman for the Mets.

2. Yairo Munoz had 108 hits in 2021 including 80 singles.

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Through June 6 Wyatt Mills had allowed seven home runs in 30 2/3 innings. Since then he has been touched for just one homer in 19 innings. … When Jhostnyxon Garcia and Nate Eaton hit back-to-back home runs in St. Paul last Tuesday, it raised Worcester’s all-time record to 34-3 in games when that happens. … The 2025 WooSox played their 100th game Saturday. They lost it to fall to 51-49. Their 100-game record in previous seasons includes 54-46 in 2021, 51-49 in 2022, 54-46 in 2023, and 46-54 last year. … Not that this is any consolation, but the S-W-B Railriders don’t just dominate the WooSox. They are 23-5 since June 2. That includes an 8-1 record versus Worcester. The rest of the International League has not done much better. The Railriders are 15-4 against other teams during that stretch.

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Thanks to modern baseball science, some box scores now come with win probability numbers. After Vaughn Grissom homered in the sixth Sunday to give the WooSox a 9-2 lead at St. Paul, their win probability was 98.8 percent. They eventually lost, 10-9. It marked only the sixth time in 119 games all-time they lost when scoring at least that many runs. They also hit four homers but lost, making them 30-3 in such games. … Nate Eaton tied a team record when he walked four times Sunday. There are several co-holders, eight all told. Nathan Hickey did it earlier this season, on May 17. … Kristian Campbell headed into the homestand with an 8-game hitting streak that raised his average from .186 to .257. He went 13 for 31 (.419) in that span. … Grissom has reached via hit or walk in 69 of his 87 games so far.

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CATCHING UP WITH…..

Hirkazu Sawamura, who had an unremarkable stint here in 2021 and 2022, has been with Chiba Lotte in Japan ever since leaving the WooSox. He is 1-0 with one save in 22 appearances there this season.

Zack Weiss’ long career has included four games in Worcester in 2023. The right-handed reliever is 2-1 with two saves for the Memphis Redbirds, the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, so far in 2025.

Southpaw specialist Tony Fossas, who worked in exactly 250 games between Boston and Pawtucket from 1991-94, is the pitching coach for Gastonia of the Atlantic League.