Crimson Sox promote aid prospect Luis Guerrero to Triple-A Worcester

Crimson Sox

Luis Guerrero spent his complete 2023 with Double-A Portland till now.

Newly-promoted Worcester Crimson Sox reliever Luis Guerrero pitches throughout this yr’s Futures Sport. Steph Chambers/Getty

One of many Crimson Sox group’s greatest pitchers is now one step nearer to enjoying in Boston.

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Reliever Luis Guerrero is being promoted to Triple-A Worcester, per MiLB Central on X, the platform previously often known as Twitter. Guerrero is listed because the thirty first greatest prospect and ninth greatest pitcher within the Crimson Sox’ system in response to SoxProspects.

Guerrero spent his 2023 solely in Double-A Portland’s bullpen, the place he posted a 1.81 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP with 18 saves in 49.2 innings pitched. He’s well-known throughout the farm system as having an unimaginable work ethic and elite expertise regardless of some command points. 

“[Guerrero] has a number of the greatest uncooked stuff of any aid arm within the system,”  wrote SoxProspects on their scouting report for Guerrero, “However wants to enhance command and management and consistency.”

It seems as if these considerations are starting to ameliorate. Guerrero issued 10 walks in 6.1 IP in July, however that quantity dropped to simply two walks in August regardless of pitching in twice as many innings (12.0).

Guerrero’s enhancements throughout the board haven’t solely garnered consideration throughout the Crimson Sox group, however nationwide consideration as effectively. He was chosen to exchange Triple-A Worcester starter Shane Drohan on this yr’s Futures Sport after Drohan bowed out because of harm. He was the ultimate pitcher the American League despatched to the mound through the sport, and he struck out the one batter he confronted, Colorado Rockies prospect Yanquiel Fernandez, on 5 pitches.

Taking part in for the Boston Crimson Sox has lengthy been a dream for Guerrero. His household moved from the Dominican Republic to the Boston space when he was only a little one, rising up close to Franklin Park. In a function written by The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, Guerrero revealed that the day the Crimson Sox drafted him was an emotional time for him and his household.

“When the Crimson Sox known as me, I instructed my mother instantly, and she or he began crying,” Guerrero instructed Speier by means of translator Carlos Villoria-Benitez. “She instructed me that she dreamed [the night before] about me getting picked by the Crimson Sox.”

Guerrero was by no means a probable candidate to make it so far as he did. He instructed Speier that when he was an toddler, he underwent surgical procedure in his proper knee that hospitalized him for 9 months. That surgical procedure inhibited growth of the muscular tissues in his knee, which is why he now walks with a limp in his proper leg. 

However Guerrero has by no means let his harm cease him. He stated that it doesn’t make pitching notably tough as a result of he’s capable of bend his knee simply sufficient to the place he can pitch.

“[But] for pitching, you simply must bend [the back knee] a bit bit,” he added. “My knee bends simply as a lot as I want it to.”

With this promotion, Guerrero has just one impediment left earlier than enjoying for the Crimson Sox, similar to he and his household had dreamed of. And based mostly on his statistics, his accomplishments, and all he’s overcome, that’s an honor that the Crimson Sox imagine he deserves.

“It’s spectacular what he can do on a mound,” Crimson Sox supervisor Alex Cora instructed MassLive’s Christopher Smith in June. “Spectacular.”