Sox not rocking the All-Star vote
Bogaerts, Devers losing ground
When it comes to AllStar Game voting, Xander Bogaerts is deserving of more love.
The Red Sox shortstop leads the American League in most offensive categories at his position and has continued to be a fixture on a team that now leads the Wild Card standings. But when MLB released its latest All-Star voting update on Monday, Bogaerts remained in third (822,019 votes) among shortstops, trailing Toronto’s Bo Bichette (1,084,794) and Chicago’s Tim Anderson (844,921).
Bogaerts, last season’s All-Star starter at shortstop, leads A.L. shortstops in average (.330), OBP (.399), slugging (.475) and OPS (.874), among several other categories entering this week’s series against the Blue Jays.
But he must be among the top-two vote-getters at shortstop in order to advance to Phase 2 of fan voting, which will decide who starts, and he’s lost ground to Anderson since the last update. Phase 1 concludes on Thursday.
Rafael Devers (1,185,906 votes), who led the voting at third base last week, fell behind Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez (1,219,704) for the top spot in the new update. But both players look like locks to make the next phase, where the two early MVP candidates will battle for the start.
J.D. Martinez fell from third to fourth in voting at designated hitter, while Trevor Story is fifth at second base. No Red Sox outfielder is within the Top 15 in voting for that position.
The Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Dodgers’ Mookie Betts remained the top vote-getters in each league, which will earn them an automatic starting assignment if they stay there.
Casas makes progress
Triston Casas, the Red Sox’ second-ranked prospect who hasn’t played since May 17 due to an ankle injury, started his hitting and fielding progression on Monday, according to a source. There is still no timetable for the first baseman’s return to Triple-A Worcester, but he’s “moving along well.”
Casas was hopeful before the season started that he could make his major league debut this year, but it remains to be seen how this injury impacts that possibility. This is an important development year for the 22-year-old Casas, who had his minor league season canceled in 2020 and went back and forth between the minor leagues and the U.S. Olympic team last year.
Roster moves
The Red Sox placed Tanner Houck and Jarren Duran on the restricted list Monday. Both players are unavailable for this week’s series in Toronto because they’re unvaccinated against COVID-19, which prohibits them from entering Canada.
Right-hander Connor Seabold — who made Monday’s start — and infielder Yolmer Sánchez were activated to the Red Sox. Sánchez, a Gold Glove infielder with the White Sox in 2019, signed a minor league contract with the Red Sox in February. He was batting .253 with an .805 OPS in 68 games with Triple-A Worcester prior to Monday’s call-up.
Injury updates
Garrett Whitlock is inching closer to his return. Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters in Toronto that the right-hander, who’s been on the injured list since June 9 with right hip inflammation, threw a bullpen on Monday in Toronto.
Whitlock is set to throw another one, and also participate in pitchers’ fielding practice, on Friday when the team goes to Chicago.
Chris Sale threw a bullpen on Monday and will head to Portland on Tuesday as he prepares for his next rehab start on Thursday, which is expected to be three innings.
Cora told reporters that Nathan Eovaldi (lower back inflammation) played catch on Monday and may throw a bullpen on Wednesday. Josh Taylor (back) is expecting to throw one inning for Portland. Kiké Hernández (hip) still isn’t swinging, so his return doesn’t appear close.
Odds & ends
Another top pitching prospect is heading to Worcester. The Red Sox on Monday promoted Chris Murphy, their ninth-ranked prospect by Baseball America, to Triple-A after he dominated in Portland with a 2.58 ERA in 15 outings, including 13 starts.
Murphy will join a rotation in Worcester that includes top pitching prospect Brayan Bello, who’s 5-2 with a 3.13 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 46 innings (seven starts) since being called up in May. …
Red Sox head athletic trainer Brad Pearson was selected to be part of the A.L. All-Star team.