Mandrallius Robinson, Greenville News - Place to Boston in 1st round; Wren outfielder taken with 27th overall pick


After being selected 27th overall by the Boston Red Sox in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft on Tuesday, former Wren High outfielder Jason Place might soon find some familiar faces behind the batter's box.

After signing with the Red Sox, Place will most likely spend the remainder of this season with the organization's rookie and development clubs in Fort Myers, Fla. and Lowell, Mass. Next spring, Place could return home to play here at West End Field with the Greenville Drive, Boston's single-A affiliate.

"That's awesome to be in your hometown," Place said. "To have the support from your people in your hometown, I couldn't ask for a better situation."

Drive manager Luis Alicea observed Place at West End Field during Place's individual workout with the Red Sox and is eager about the imminent possibility of having Place in his lineup.

"I'm excited," Alicea said. "He came in here about three weeks ago for a workout and put on a show. He's talented."

Place made his debut yesterday for the GCL Sox, pinch hitting in the seventh inning. He singled in his lone AB.

Link

Mike Hazen, the team's first-year director of player development, when asked for an early review on Jason Place, the South Carolina high schooler who was the Red Sox' first-round draft choice and is currently playing for the team's rookie-league entry in Fort Myers, Fla.: ``I was down there before we started games with him but he has done pretty well to start the season. Obviously he's learning what pro ball and playing every day is all about. His defense in center field and base running have been outstanding and he shows a real ability to impact the ball to all fields. We are working on some fundamental setup and load things with his swing that he has taken to pretty quickly." In his first nine games as a pro, Place was batting .269 (7 for 26) with no home runs and 2 RBIs

[codebox]
Jason Place: Individual Stats (Batting)
AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
30 7 0 0 0 2 6 8 1 0 .351 .233 .233[/codebox]

It would be nice if Boston's $1.3 million power-hitting draftee would toss in an extra-base hit now and then. Either that or provide the team with sharks with laser beams on their heads. Throw us a frickin' bone here.

Although still homerless, Place is hitting nicely, and putting up a nice line.

.278/.375/.315

The slugging is terrible thanks to only two of his hits being for extra bases.

Congrats to Place on his first minor league HR tonight.

Hope the first of many.

Place is starting to come around in the GCL.

.277/357/.406 3 HR 2 SB 3 CS

However, he has 32 Ks in 101 ABs and 13 BBs.

Another dinger today. That's 4 in his last 9 games.

Jason Place has not played in awhile and the reason for that might be that he got hit in the face with a baseball. Likely out for the rest of the season. I don't have comformation on that yet but my the source I got it from is pretty good.

Nick Cafardo had this in his Minor League Notebooks column in this morning's Globe:

Zink refused to knuckle under


The Red Sox received a scare last week when shortstop Jason Place, the team's top pick in the June draft, was hit on the earflap with a pitch during a Gulf Coast League game. ``He went to the hospital to get checked out, was cleared, and is fine," said general manager Theo Epstein. ``We have a policy at the lower levels that when a player gets hit in the head, we shut him down for a week and ease him back into playing. Place may get back into action by the GCL playoffs."

Looks like he's going to be fine...

Wow. Place recalled to Greenville yesterday. That's a pretty big step for an 18 year old. Good luck kid!~

I'm surprised they didn't bump him to Lowell so he could get a taste of Fenway at the Futures game today. That is quite a jump if he's really going to Greenville. Do you have a link or a source? I saw that somebody mentioned it at soxprospects.com, but I haven't seen any confirmation anywhere yet.

Got word from someone who talked to Mike Hazen who said Place is not going to Greenville and that is season is over. They felt he had enough at-bats through HS and pro ball but likely will be back for instructional league in october.

Place had a very nice start to his pro career in the Gulf Coast League. He'll turn 19 in May.

[codebox]AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS
.292 33 113 14 33 3 1 4 21 50 17 35 3 3 .386 .442 .829[/codebox]

Jason Place ranked 5th in Baseball America's list of the Top 20 Prospects in the Gulf Coast League, released today.

One of Boston's 1st-round draft picks last June, Place has started the 2007 season as the No. 6 hitter and starting CFer for Low-A Greenville. He doesn't turn 19 until May, making him one of the youngest players in the league. He's struggled out of the gate, hitting .143/.250/.179, with 12 Ks in 28 ABs.

Place is still striking out at an epic clip (28 Ks in 65 ABs), but he's having a little more success when he does make contact. He's hit 3 HRs over his last 6 games and his OPS has creeped up to .660. He's still just 18, so any signs of progress are nice to see.

Place has been a little better in May (.698 OPS) than he was in April (.620 OPS), but he continues to show how raw he is during his first year of full-season pro ball. He's struck out 52 times in 133 ABs, while posting a line of .203/.282/.368with 4 HRs.

Place, who turned 19 last month, is showing some signs of progress at Greenville. He's off to a good start in June (.912 OPS in 5 games) after finishing May with a .710 OPS, up from just .620 in April. For the season, he's hitting .220/.311/.382, for a .693 OPS.

For Place, the key is the K/BB ratio, as he was striking out at an alarming clip and not walking much early in the season. By month, his K/BB totals have gone from 35/7 in April to 29/11 in May to 7/6 so far in June. That's a very good sign for such a young hitter.

From the Greenville News:

Willie T. Smith III - A year later, Place recalls antsy feeling while waiting for draft

Considered one of the top high school baseball players in the country, the former Wren High School player was confident he would be selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft.

But you never know.

Place, now the center fielder for the Greenville Drive, the Class A South Atlantic League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, was in Albuquerque, N.M., to play in a high school All-American game when the draft took place. He found it hard to relax on the eve of the draft.

Place is closing out June on a bad note, as he's hitting just .143 over his last 10 games. For the year, he sports a .659 OPS.

From today's Globe:

Amalie Benjamin - Minor League Notebook: Place not out of place; Poor numbers are to be expected

Playing 20 minutes from his hometown of Easley, S.C., the 19-year-old hasn't exactly overwhelmed in his first full year of professional baseball. But it's not what he terms the "extra pressure, extra emotions" of playing so close to home with Single A Greenville that have translated to the lack of production. Because if you ask those in the Red Sox organization, it isn't that unexpected.

"If these are the numbers we were staring at coming out of spring training, I don't know that we would be overly disappointed," said director of player development Mike Hazen. "They don't look the same as Lars [Anderson's] or Josh Reddick's or [Ryan] Kalish's, but when you're dealing with 18-, 19-year-old players, some guys are going to get it quicker than others. When we drafted Jason, there were some things we wanted to work on.

Willie T. Smith III - Ex-Wren star Place has hot June in California


After producing offensive numbers similar to 2007's during the first half of the season, Place appears to have seen the light.

"We are really happy for him," said Red Sox Vice President of Player Personnel Ben Cherington. "Obviously he went through his struggles here in Greenville last year and had to grind it out. He took his lumps. We decided to send him to Lancaster, I think in part to challenge him, but also we thought coming back here to Greenville for another year, in his home town basically, would be a little tough for him.

"We wanted him to experience something else, living a little further away from home. He got off to a tough start again this year but, to his credit, he has really battled, worked really hard and made some adjustments with his swing."

Place entered Sunday with a .254 average. He has 11 home runs, 42 RBI, 17 doubles and 3 triples. He has 80 hits in 315 at-bats.

He has been on fire recently, hitting .320 with 6 home runs, 4 doubles and 19 RBI in June and .375 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI in 5 games in July.