Lavarnway Sent Down

With David Ortiz returning to the lineup, rookie DH/C Ryan Lavarnway was sent back to Pawtucket (Scott Atchison being recalled). In seven games with Boston, he held his own with a .304/.407/.391 line. Not bad for his first go-around.

Physically, he reminds me of a young Travis Hafner, with a little less talent than Pronk (sorry, it's a personal rule to never miss a Pronk reference). Simply because I wonder about things like this, here's a comparison between Hafner's last real season in the minors (2002) and Lavarnway's combined numbers between Portland and Pawtucket this year:

Lavarnway

Year   Age    Lg   G  AB  R   H HR RBI   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2011   23 AAA/AA 110 417 71 122 30  85 .293 .372 .559 .931

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/27/2011.

Hafner
Year Age Lg G AB R H HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS

2002    25 AAA 110 401 79 137 21  77 .342 .463 .559 1.022  

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 8/27/2011.

 As you can see, Hafner posted monster numbers in his age 25 season, with a 1.022 OPS. But Lavarnway's season has been above average in it's own right, and the splits between AA/AAA (sorry, too lazy to post those), show improvement as he moves up the ranks. He was tearing up AAA pitching before being called up. Also, Lavarnway is still only 23, whereas Hafner didn't see significant playing time with the Indians until he was 26. That said, it would be something of a minor miracle if he matches Hafner's 2006 season (a year in which he lead the league with an 1.097 OPS). But with continued improvement, it's easy to see him as a decent option to replace Ortiz in a season or two, or as tantalizing trade-bait over the next couple of years. Stay tuned.


------------------------------------------
UPDATE:
Scott Atchison lasted all of five innings this time around, with the Sox recalling Michael Bowden Saturday morning, according to a report by mlb.com.

Youkilis to DL

The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo tweeted today that the Red Sox will place Youk on the 15-day DL due to his back issues. In his place, they will call up one of their top-prospects, C/DH Ryan Lavarnway.

Despite the loss of Youkilis, this is good news on two fronts: the first obviously being, Boston can rest Youkilis while they have the chance. Even with David Ortiz ailing, the Sox lineup can take the hit for a few weeks. But I'm excited to see what Lavarnway can do on the major league level. We probably would have seen him anyway during September call-ups, but this gives us an early glimpse. Lavarnway was recently tearing up AAA pitching for Pawtucket, and his cumulative line between AA Portland and the PawSox is an impressive .293/.372/.559 with 30 homers and 85 RBI.

Hooray for prospects!

UPDATE: Yep, so Lavarnway came up blank last night, going 0-for-4 in a 4-3 win over the Royals. Not exactly the shining debut he was looking for. Oh well.