Methuen's Wallace wrapping up strong year with Portland Sea Dogs

Sep. 11—PORTLAND, Maine — Coming out of spring training Jacob Wallace knew he was about to embark on the most important year of his professional career.

Assigned to the Portland Sea Dogs, the former Methuen High and UConn standout had a chance to prove himself at the Double-A level while also pitching in his proverbial backyard.

Pitch well, and he might wind up just a phone call away from achieving his big league dream.

Struggle, and he might see himself getting passed by.

Six months later it's clear Wallace has made the most of his big chance. Now as the season winds down the Red Sox pitching prospect believes this all-important year has gone as well as he could have hoped.

"I've learned a lot, I feel like I've grown a lot as a player," Wallace said. "Worked on a few new pitches, kind of just feeling right with everything and where I'm at and what we've worked on all year has kind of clicked and I've seen the results of that the last month or so."

Entering Saturday Wallace stood at 6-2 with a 4.08 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 53 innings on the season, and he's pitched especially well recently. Over his last 16 appearances since July 22 he's posted a 1.61 ERA, held opposing batters to a .184 average and has reliably served as one of the top late-inning weapons for a Portland club currently chasing its first division title since 2014.

In many respects his season has mirrored last year, when he spent the entire season at High-A Greenville after being acquired from Colorado in a 2020 trade for outfielder Kevin Pillar. That year Wallace also had to overcome some mid-year struggles before finishing the year strong, and in both cases the 24-year-old righty had to adjust to a higher level of competition before settling in as a dominant reliever.

Best known for his big league caliber stuff, Wallace throws a mid-to-high 90s fastball and a sweeping slider that has allowed him to average nearly 13 strikeouts per nine innings for his professional career. The main weakness he's worked to overcome throughout his career is his control, and this year he had a lot of trouble with walks through the first half before eventually dialing things in by mid-July.

"I started off the year not doing so hot with the control," Wallace said. "As much emphasis as there is always with it, I struggled a little bit. I was getting in my own head with my mechanics and beating myself out there, which haltered a good season right out of the gate. But I worked on it all year long and the mechanics kind of clicked, and that's helped me get better control and keep the walks down."

In addition to his control, Wallace has also worked to add a pair of new pitches to his repertoire. One is a changeup that he started throwing last year, and the other is a new cutter that he's added only recently, which he described as like a hard slider that can help give batters something else to think about.

"I'm still getting the perfect location on it and trying to get it inside to lefties and away to righties and locating that really well, but overall feeling great throwing it," Wallace said. "Just pure confidence going into the game knowing if he puts down a cutter I'm going to throw it for a strike, swing and miss, whatever I need."

Beyond his and the team's recent success, Wallace has also gotten to enjoy chasing his dream only a short drive from home. Portland's Hadlock Field is only about a 90-minute drive from Methuen, and several divisional rivals — most notably the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Manchester — are easily accessible as well.

"It's been awesome, it's been a real blessing," Wallace said. "My parents have probably made 75% of the games I've pitched in, which is great."

With the season winding down, the obvious question for Wallace now is what comes next. After spending full seasons at High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland, the logical next stop is Triple-A Worcester.

But while Wallace is hopeful to earn a promotion, he's also grateful for the journey he's had and believes it's made him more ready for when the time eventually comes.

"I'm going at my pace, I feel like what I've learned this year would have been lost on me if I'd just jumped up to Worcester early with a good start, I wouldn't have grown as a player as much as I did this year sticking around in Portland," Wallace said. "It's honestly perfect that I haven't moved up, and growing as a player down here and being able to really feel comfortable down here and gain that confidence, pitching against the Double-A guys because they're good enough as it is, but I'm excited for that next step and that's on the Red Sox to tell me when that's the case."

Surging Rafaela capping off stellar season

It seems like every week another Ceddanne Rafaela highlight goes viral.

A 21-year-old super-utility standout at Portland, Rafaela excels in both the infield and outfield and has lately gotten into the habit of making jaw-dropping plays seem routine.

Just take a quick scroll through the Sea Dogs' Twitter feed and it won't take long to find one.

There was the amazing grab against New Hampshire back on July 1 where he high-pointed the ball while crashing into the wall, and then exactly a week later he topped that with a ridiculous Spiderman-like catch in deep centerfield to rob a home run. He also made an insane over the shoulder catch running at full speed into shallow left field from shortstop in late July, and a couple of weeks back and may have topped them all with a full-extension, Superman-style diving grab.

There have been so many highlights that almost every pitcher on the Sea Dogs pitching staff has their own story to tell.

"[The batter] got a good piece of it, hit it deep center, and I just walked off the field clapping. I didn't even have to look and he made a catch jumping into the wall," Wallace said. "I mean, the guy's amazing. It's just spectacular having him out there and knowing he has my back."

Rafaela's defensive exploits aren't anything new — he was named Red Sox Minor League Defensive Player of the Year for 2021 — but what's made him such an exciting prospect is lately he's started hitting nearly as well as he fields. That improvement has vaulted Rafaela from an intriguing but unheralded name to a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball, and now he stands as the Red Sox biggest riser of the summer.

"It feels really good. [People] didn't know me as well, now they can see all those plays and the hard work I put in," said Rafaela, who is currently baseball's No. 81 prospect according to Baseball America. "I knew this moment was going to come because I know what I can do, how good I am."

Originally signed as an international free agent out of Curacao for just $10,000 in 2017, Rafaela started the year at High-A Greenville and absolutely dominated. He was promoted to Double-A in early June after batting .330 with a .962 OPS, and upon his arrival in Portland he continued to rake.

Now as the minor league season nears its finish Rafaela is batting .296 with 20 home runs, 74 RBI, 26 stolen bases, 32 doubles, 77 runs scored and an .889 OPS. He also took part in the All-Star Future Games and now has Portland in position to contend for its first division title since 2014.

A breakout like Rafaela's, where a seemingly mid-tier prospect comes out of nowhere to emerge as a potential star, is uncommon but not unprecedented. His rise is in many ways reminiscent of Mookie Betts, who in the blink of an eye went from a fifth-round draft pick out of high school with virtually no power to one of the game's most exciting prospects and eventually a perennial MVP candidate.

Like Betts, Rafaela started off as a standout defensive infielder who successfully transitioned to the outfield. Betts is now a five-time Gold Glove winner, and some talent evaluators believe Rafaela may already rank among the game's elite defenders himself.

Betts and Rafaela both also boast impressive speed on the bases, and once things clicked at the plate both began rising rapidly through the minor league ranks.

The two do differ in one key respect. Betts has always been renowned for his plate discipline and from the beginning has walked nearly as often as he's struck out. Rafaela is much more aggressive, resulting in considerably higher strikeout rates and lower walk rates, though he has made improving his approach a priority.

"I've grown a lot on the mental side, I know my body, know what I need in the cage and I've worked with my coaches and I have a better approach," Rafaela said. "I've gotten much better this year, I'm seeing the ball, know which balls are better for me to hit and that's why I'm having a successful year."

Rafaela acknowledged that he's heard the comparisons between him and Betts and finds them flattering, and also that he looks up to Betts as a role model along with Xander Bogaerts and Ronald Acuña Jr., but at the end of the day he's trying to be his own man. He also noted how becoming a father at a young age helped put things into perspective for him, and it's no accident that his upward trajectory began around the same time his son was born in late 2020.

"It's the best thing that could have happened to me," Rafaela said. "I know some people may think it's early, I'm young, but I'm so happy that it came this early because it changed a lot of my mindset, how I see life, because now it's not only me, I have a family, so I'm not doing it only for myself, I'm doing it for him and his mom."

Rafaela still has a long way to go if he hopes to become anywhere near the player Betts is, but his emergence has been an exciting development and Red Sox fans should keep a close eye on him going forward.

Pitch clock, shift ban now official

Long considered a foregone conclusion, MLB made it official on Friday when it announced that the pitch clock, ban on shifts and larger bases will all be implemented for the 2023 season.

All three rule changes were approved by the league's new joint Competition Committee, which was created as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement approved back in March.

"These steps are designed to improve pace of play, increase action, and reduce injuries, all of which are goals that have overwhelming support among our fans," said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. "Throughout the extensive testing of recent years, Minor League personnel and a wide range of fans — from the most loyal to casual observers — have recognized the collective impact of these changes in making the game even better and more enjoyable. We appreciate the participation of the representatives of the Major League Players and Umpires in this process."

The larger bases change was approved unanimously while the pitch clock and ban on shifts were opposed by the committee's player representatives, who comprise a minority on the committee and who argued that their concerns weren't meaningfully addressed before the final vote was taken.

Pitch clock: Pitchers will have up to 15 seconds between pitches when the bases are empty and up to 20 seconds between pitches with runners on base. A pitcher may step off the rubber twice per plate appearance, including on pickoff attempts, and if they step off a third time then a balk will be called unless they throw a runner out. The count will reset if a runner advances.

Hitters also must be in the batter's box and ready for a pitch with at least eight seconds remaining on the clock, and hitters will receive one timeout per plate appearance. Umpires will have authority to provide additional time in warranted by special circumstances, like if the catcher makes the last out of the inning and needs extra time to get geared up and into position.

The official rule change differs slightly from what has been tested in the minors, where pitchers have had 14 seconds with the bases empty and either 18 or 19 seconds with runners on base depending on the level. The "disengagement" count also didn't reset until the following plate appearance, so overall MLB pitchers will have slightly more leeway than minor leaguers have this year.

Even with the extra second per pitch, the pitch clock should dramatically improve pace of play while reducing game times overall. According to MLB, the pitch clock as reduced the average nine-inning game time by 26 minutes (from 3:04 in 2021 to 2:38 in 2022) while increasing action on the field. Stolen base attempts have also increased and over the past week Minor League Baseball has averaged only 0.45 pitch clock violations per game.

The league also announced that it has reached a multi-year agreement to extend its relationship with PitchCom, which clubs have used to facilitate secure communication between pitchers, catchers and their teammates. PitchCom allows pitchers to receive signals from their catcher instantaneously and the league hopes it will help mitigate pitch clock violations going forward.

Shift ban: Two infielders must be positioned on each side of second base when the pitch is released. All four infielders must have both feet within the outer boundary of the infield when the pitcher is on the rubber, and infielders can't switch sides unless there is a substitution.

The idea behind the ban on shifts is to return baseball to its traditional infield aesthetic and offset the increasing prevalence of defensive shifts, which MLB says has increased nearly six-fold since 2018. In doing so the league hopes to encourage more balls in play while giving players more opportunities to showcase their athleticism.

Bigger bases: The size of first, second and third base will increase from the standard 15-inch square to an 18-inch square. In doing so MLB hopes to improve player safety, noting that base-related injuries decreased by 13.5% in the minors this year, including declines at every level.

In addition, the larger bases will also reduce the distance between first and second and between second and third by 4.5 inches, which the league hopes will encourage clubs to attempt more stolen bases and generally act more aggressively on the base paths.

White named Summer Showcase All-Star

Coming off a brilliant spring in which he earned Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year honors, rising Phillips Andover senior Thomas White dominated the summer baseball circuit to solidify his place as the nation's top high school pitcher.

This week the 6-foot-5 lefty was one of 12 high school players nationally recognized as a 2022 High School Summer Showcase All-Star by Baseball America, which also has the Vanderbilt commit ranked No. 5 overall in the Class of 2023.

"He pitched in the 92-96 mph range at both PG National and ECP this summer with lots of run and ride, while also flashing a potential plus breaking pitch and changeup," writes Baseball America's Carlos Collazo. "While the ease of White's delivery is fairly remarkable, his control needs to improve and a long arm action in the back of his arm stroke could be a hurdle."

Factoring in college players, Baseball America currently has White as the No. 14 prospect in the 2023 MLB Draft. Barring any unforeseen developments the Rowley resident will have a great chance of becoming one of the area's highest-ever draft picks next July.

Email: mcerullo@northofboston.com.

Twitter: @MacCerullo.