Ballou on Baseball - June 18, 2025

By Bill Ballou,

Player development is about the Kristian Campbells, Roman Anthonys, Marcelo Mayers and Chase Meidroths of the world, but that is not all it is about.

It’s about the Brian Van Belles, also.

The WooSox’ best pitcher in 2025, so far, is gone to Cincinnati (AAA-Louisville) in a cash transaction. When Boston took Van Belle off the 40-man roster last week after an up-and-down callup, and he became available to other teams, it seemed inevitable that his career in the organization was over. Van Belle was too good at Triple-A and pitching is in such short supply that somebody had to have been interested.

At the moment, he is one of baseball’s “phantom players.” He has been an active player for at least one major league game, but has never played in one. Two other former WooSox are also phantoms — Ronaldo Hernandez and Norwith Gudino.

Van Belle made himself into prospect through hard work and perseverance. He was signed by Boston as an undrafted free agent out of Miami and reached Triple-A at age 25 midway through the 2023 season.

It was not a very promising season for him. Van Belle was 5-4 but had a 6.41 ERA. The worst thing was the home runs. Oh, so many of them. He surrendered 18 in just 13 appearances. Major league prospect? Van Belle was barely a Triple-A prospect.

The coaching staff suggested some changes. Van Belle adapted and made them. In 2024 and 2025, he allowed only 17 homers combined. He went 13-3 and when sold to the Reds was on a five-game streak during which he was 5-0 with a 1.55 ERA. Van Belle had allowed 24 hits and walked just one in that span.

And had not given up a home run.

Van Belle is still the WooSox’ all-time leader in home runs allowed with 35. That is way ahead of Kyle Hart’s 26; Hart has spent part of this season with the Padres.

A more telling number is Van Belle’s 18-7 won-lost record. Van Belle is the franchise’s all-time leader in wins, and that is way ahead, too. Chase Shugart is second with 13.

It has taken some time, but it seems like just a matter of time before Van Belle is more than a phantom.

***********************************************************

TRIPLE-A TRIVIA

1. Who is the youngest pitcher to record a win in a WooSox uniform?
2. What longtime major leaguer hit the first grand slam in Worcester Red Sox history?

*********************************************************

Considering the mild winters and long, hot summers, it is surprising that Blaze Jordan is the first born-and-raised in Mississippi player to wear a WooSox uniform. Counting Isaiah Campbell, who was born in Portugal but raised in Kansas, that makes it 36 different states represented on the WooSox’ all-time roster. The asterisk in this note is that Boston pitching standout Garrett Crochet is also a Mississippian. … Irrelevant but interesting fact — WooSox manager Chad Tracy, a catcher by trade, loves “Bull Durham” but has never pulled a Crash Davis and told the batter what pitch is coming. … It was a long wait, but no doubt worth it for Chris Murphy. He picked up the win Wednesday night in Lehigh Valley as he comes back from Tommy John surgery. His last one before that was Sept. 6, 2023 in Gwinnett, a span of 642 days. Murphy’s last win at Polar Park was on April 20, 2023. … Congratulations to WooSox alum Hunter Dobbins for actually saying something interesting when he spoke of his dislike of the Yankees. Even better — he seems to be one of the best pitching products developed in the Boston farm system in recent seasons. … The WooSox have played 643 games through the years and their 9-1 victory over Rochester at Polar Park on June 4 is the only one in which there were no bases on balls by either team. … To this point in the season, eight Worcester players have made their Triple-A debuts here. Last year at this time of the year that number was 13.

************************************************************

CATCHING UP WITH….

Original WooSox player Jeter Downs is in his third season with Fukuoka of the Japan Pacific League. Downs was batting .222 with no home runs and one RBI in 12 games before going on the injured list.

Reliever Durbin Feltman is with the Lexington Legends of the Atlantic League. He has six saves in 11 appearances with a 10.13 earned run average.

Former Worcester pitching coach Paul Abbott is back in Triple-A after a year at the Double-A level. Abbott is coaching the Las Vegas Aviators, an Athletics affiliate. One of the catchers there is ex-WooSox player Jhonny Pereda, who has been up and down with the A’s all season.

*********************************************************

Wyatt Olds has seen his earned run average go down for six straight appearances. That means it had been high, but his recovery has been notable. It dropped from 10.57 to 4.68 in a span of six outings. Olds has allowed no earned runs on five hits and four walks in those six appearances. … Marcelo Mayer’s only home runs as a WooSox player came with somebody on base. Seven of Nathan Hickey’s nine in 2025 have been with somebody on but Worcester has been solo-heavy lately. Eleven of the last 16 WooSox homers have come with the bases empty. … There is something about living in Allentown, PA apparently, that creates baseball fans. Worcester has played 34 games in Lehigh Valley through the years and the average gate for those games is 7,162. The average for 12 games so far in 2025 is 8,825.

*****************************************************

TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Victor Santos was one month past his 21st birthday when he got the win on Aug. 25, 2022 as Worcester beat Syracuse, 9-1. Santos pitched six scoreless innings and allowed only three hits and one walk. He struck out 11.
2. Kike Hernandez hit a grand slam to left-center at Polar Park in the second inning on May 16, 2021. It gave Worcester a 6-1 lead over Syracuse in a game the WooSox eventually won, 7-4.

********************************************************

Through Sunday Worcester manager Chad Tracy had used only four different players in the leadoff spot including most recently Nate Eaton, who had spent a lot of the season hitting cleanup. Roman Anthony hit leadoff in every game he started. Nick Sogard has done it seven times, Marcelo Mayer twice. They have combined for a .296 batting average and 54 runs scored.

*************************************************************

Blaze Jordan had a nice eight-game hitting streak to begin his WooSox career. That is tied for second-best in team history with Pedro Castellanos. He did it in 2022. Both are a long way from Jorge Alfaro, who hit in his first 14 games in a Worcester uniform in 2023. In a larger sample size, Jhost**ynxon Garcia* hit safely in 17 of his first 18 WooSox games this season. That compares with *David Hamilton’s* start. He hit in 16 of his first 17 Worcester games in 2023. … *Roman Anthony’s* big league career has started slowly but so did his Triple-A career. He was 3 for 19 in his first five WooSox games and all three of those hits came in his debut. *Kyle Teel**, Anthony’s teammate late last season, was 4 for 40 early in his Triple-A debut and is currently in the major leagues with the White Sox.