Aaron Bates Promoted, Starting at First Base Tonight
The Red Sox are being forced to dig deep into their 1B depth chart, much deeper than they anticipated this season. With injuries to Mike Lowell, Mark Kotsay, and Jeff Bailey, 25-year-old Pawtucket first baseman Aaron Bates has been summoned to make his MLB debut tonight.
In a nutshell: he’s a big, slow-footed first baseman. A RHH with good plate discipline. Some power, but nothing great by 1B standards. Will be able to pull a fly ball or two over the monster. High K rates. He might be overmatched by strong right-handed pitching.
Here are his career minor league numbers:
| Year | Level | G | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
| 2006 | A ss | 27 | 117 | 36 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 0.360 | 0.436 | 0.530 |
| 2006 | A | 43 | 174 | 41 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 26 | 0.270 | 0.351 | 0.395 |
| 2007 | A + | 98 | 465 | 124 | 21 | 2 | 24 | 69 | 83 | 0.332 | 0.456 | 0.592 |
| 2007 | AA | 27 | 112 | 18 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 29 | 0.198 | 0.348 | 0.429 |
| 2008 | AA | 124 | 530 | 126 | 29 | 2 | 11 | 50 | 114 | 0.276 | 0.366 | 0.420 |
| 2009 | AA | 52 | 232 | 70 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 17 | 49 | 0.340 | 0.405 | 0.505 |
| 2009 | AAA | 24 | 99 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 21 | 0.182 | 0.273 | 0.295 |
