Red Sox Prospect: Felix Doubront Makes His Home Debut For Pawtucket

            Having pitched just one inning over a 10 day stretch, it would be understandable for any pitcher to be rusty in his next outing. Add in the pressure of one’s first home start after getting called up to AAA and the night becomes even more unsettling for a young minor leaguer.

            Enter Felix Doubront, a 22-year old southpaw rated as the No. 18 prospect in the Boston Red Sox farm system by Baseball America. The Carabobo, Venezuela-native made his McCoy Stadium debut with Pawtucket Red Sox Friday night, pleasing those in attendance on a clear early-summer evening.

 Doubront allowed one earned run in five innings of work, scattering eight singles, walking two, and striking out six. As a result of the six strikeouts and three double plays turned by his defense, he was able to avoid disaster and stranded seven runners in his outing.

Doubront arrived in Pawtucket as one of the prized young arms in the Red Sox organization, having experienced success on every level of his ascent through the minor leagues. In 2008 he was named to the South Atlantic League All-Star game and in 2009 he was named Pitcher of the Year for the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox’ AA affiliate.

A year ago he posted an 8-6 record with a 3.35 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 121.0 innings pitched, and through eight starts in AA this season he posted a 4-0 record with a 2.51 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 43.0 innings before being promoted to the Paw Sox.

For all intents and purposes Doubront made his AAA debut against Norfolk, but Friday night actually marked Doubront’s second appearance of the season with the Paw Sox. He was called up on May 20, and after going a scoreless first inning versus Durham, the game went into a 1:32 rain delay and Doubront’s AAA debut was cut short.

As a result of unpredictable Mother Nature, Doubront had extra time to prepare for his start against the Norfolk Tides and the young lefty looked well-rested. At times in his home debut Doubront looked downright electric. His first pitch of the evening was a fastball clocked at 94 MPH on the McCoy Stadium radar gun, and he touched 94 several other times throughout the evening. While he ultimately settled-in with his fastball at 91 MPH deeper into the outing, Doubrant featured a screwballing change up that at times appeared major league ready.

            The Paw Sox wound up losing 3-0 to the Norfolk Tides, but that was not the story on this particular evening. Doubront has now allowed two earned runs with 18 strikeouts in his last 19.0 innings between AA Portland and AAA Pawtucket—good for a 0.95 ERA.

For a sputtering Paw Sox club in need of a spark, they might need to look no further than Doubrant. Coming off a Dusty Brown 3-run walk-off home run in a 5-4 victory over Norfolk the previous night, the Paw Sox showed extra energy entering Friday night’s tilt. The Paw Sox entered at 21-26 and in fourth place in the INT-North prior to the 3-0 loss to the Tides. A timely call-up for a pitcher with a live arm could be just the thing to turn a team’s fortune around.

            While neither he nor the Paw Sox were able to get the win, his performance Friday was a bright spot nonetheless for a team whose lineup appeared over-matched in mustering out just four hits against the Tides’ starter Troy Patton and reliever Dennis Sarfate.

In what is now his sixth season in the Red Sox organization, Doubrant is not knocking on the door of the big club, but his promotion to AAA is surely going to be more than a temporary engagement before being sent back down to AA.

A promotion to the big club at any point in 2010 remains a long-shot, but look no further than Doubront as a pitcher who will make an immediate impact on the AAA level and as a pitcher who has the potential to make an impact long-term in Boston.