Just like his adversary over at ESPN Insider, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has ranked his top 100 MLB Prospects for 2013. In there, he has included six members of the Boston Red Sox farm system in his top 100.

They are Xander Bogaerts (No. 20), Jackie Bradley, Jr (No. 32), Matt Barnes (No. 38), Allen Webster (No. 71), Henry Owens (No. 91) and Jose Iglesias (No. 96).

Here's what he says about Bogaerts:

Scouting Grades (present/future): Hit: 4/6 | Power: 4/5 | Run: 5/5 | Arm: 6/6 | Field: 4/6 | Overall: 5/6

The Aruba native and 2012 Futures Game participant has some serious tools and he's used them to rush up the Red Sox's organizational ladder, reaching Double-A in 2012 at age 19. He has the ability to make hard contact and can shoot the ball to all fields with excellent bat speed and a smooth swing. He has significant raw power he's still learning to tap into and he will be a better overall hitter as his plate discipline continues to improve, something that happened in the Carolina League in 2012, but not as much once he moved up a level. His plus arm works just fine from shortstop and while he's an average runner, he has better range than one would expect for a player his size. If he has to move over to third, his bat looks like it will play just fine there, though Will Middlebrooks is standing in the way there.

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Here's what he says about Bradley:

Scouting Grades (present/future): Hit: 5/6 | Power: 4/5 | Run: 5/5 | Arm: 5/5 | Field: 6/7 | Overall: 5/6

A subpar junior season at South Carolina, which ended in injury, may have been the biggest blessing for the Boston Red Sox. Otherwise, the talented outfielder would not have been around in the supplemental first round of the 2011 Draft. Bradley put that rough final college campaign in his rear view mirror quickly by reaching Double-A in his first full season and finishing second in the system in batting average while topping the organization in on-base percentage. He can really hit and can square up to the ball consistently to go along with his superb on-base skills. He's not a burner, but his plus instincts make him a threat on the bases as well as a plus defender in center field. He doesn't need that much more time before he'll be ready to contribute and most see Jacoby Ellsbury's impending free agency as the opening for Bradley to step through full-time.

Here's what he has to say about Barnes:

Scouting Grades* (present/future): Fastball: 6/7 | Curveball: 5/6 | Changeup: 4/5 | Control: 5/6 | Overall: 5/6

This University of Connecticut product had a solid first full season of pro ball in 2012, including a visit to the Futures Game, though he clearly ran out of gas and struggled a bit in the second half of the season. Barnes has everything a team is looking for in a future frontline starter: arm strength, good overall stuff and even a feel for pitching. He isn’t afraid to go right after hitters or go inside, especially with his plus fastball that touches 96 mph. His tight downer curve has the chance to be an out pitch as well and while his changeup is clearly his third pitch, it’s improving and should be an average offering in the future. With good overall command, it shouldn’t take him too long to be ready for Boston.

Here's what he has to say about Webster:

Scouting Grades* (present/future): FB: 6/7 | Curve: 4/5 | Slider: 4/5 | Changeup: 4/5 | Control: 4/6 | Overall: 4/5

Having to trade someone like Adrian Gonzalez is never a good thing, especially for an organization like the Red Sox, but one of the silver linings of that cloud was the acquisition of Webster from the Dodgers in the deal. A bit of a project as a later-round selection, he has really developed into a right-hander who will be ready to help a big league staff very soon. Webster's best pitch is his fastball, but it's not just because he throws it up into the mid-90s. His heater has plus life with a ton of sink, which has enabled him to get a ton of groundball outs along with swings and misses. His changeup also has sink to it and he has a pretty good feel for it. When he's in sync, his slider is sharp with late break and has glimpses of being an out pitch as well. While Webster rarely gives up the long ball, his command wasn't as sharp in 2012. If he can find better consistency with his outstanding stuff, he can start. If not, a bullpen role could ultimately be his future.

Here's what he has to say about Owens:

Scouting Grades (present/future): FB: 5/6 | Curve: 5/5 | Slider: 5/5 | Changeup: 5/6 | Control: 4/5 | Overall: 5/5

The Southern California high school standout had a very successful first full season, spending the year in the South Atlantic League and finishing fourth in strikeouts despite being on an innings count. Tall and lanky, the ball comes out of Owens’ hand free and easy, allowing his lively fastball to play up. Despite his walk rate, he actually can locate his fastball in and out of the strike zone fairly well. Owens has two breaking balls, with both the curve and the slider looking like average offerings at least. He has a very good changeup which he uses as an out pitch effectively. His ceiling might be that of a No. 3 starter, but that’s nothing to sneeze at, and the gloves could come off a bit in 2013.

And here's what he has to say about Iglesias:

Scouting Grades* (present/future): Hit: 3/4 | Power: 2/2 | Run: 5/5 | Arm: 6/6 | Field: 7/7 | Overall: 4/5

Since the Red Sox signed Iglesias back in 2009, everyone knew the glove would be ready and the bat would take time. The Cuban defector is a plus defensive shortstop, the kind worth the price of admission to watch play the position. His offensive game, however, still raises concerns over his ability to be an everyday big leaguer. Some of the problem has been injury-related. He’s missed a good amount of development time and repetitions to allow that part of his game to catch up. He still has some ability, with good bat speed and the ability to make consistent contact. He also has solid speed, but there’s not much power to speak of and while he doesn’t strike out, he doesn’t walk much, either. Iglesias will still be just 23 for all of the 2013 season, but he needs to stay healthy and get the chance to show if he can hit enough to be in a big league lineup as a regular at shortstop.

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In perusing Keith Law's 2013 Top 100 Prospects for 2013 article on ESPN Insider yesterday for the players from the Boston Red Sox, I also had to take into consideration one of the other subjects of the site, the UConn Huskies.

So when you go through the list of the top 100, you'll notice that there are three former UConn Huskies baseball players in it.

They are George Springer of the Houston Astros (No. 43), Mike Olt of the Texas Rangers (No. 71) and Matt Barnes of the Red Sox (No. 79).

Here's what Law had to say about Springer who he ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Astros organization:

Springer is a true five-tool player who is, as scouts say, what prospects are supposed to look like, but the lack of adjustments in his approach in the last two years is becoming more and more of a concern.

On the plus side, Springer can run, throw, hit for power (including to the opposite field), and cover ground in center; if he has to move to a corner, he'll easily be plus in right, similar to Jason Heyward, a center fielder in high school who's become one of the game's best right fielders.

At the plate, Springer is fine when he's ahead in the count, with superlative hand acceleration, letting him load a little deeply and wait on the ball, then exploding to it with the bat speed and rotation to produce plus power. When he falls behind, however, he struggles to adjust, with no real two-strike approach — he doesn't shorten up, he doesn't look for different pitch types, and he doesn't use the whole field.

These are all changes he is able to make, but hasn't yet. If he does, he's an All-Star and would give the Astros a second impact bat with Jonathan Singleton. If not, Springer might not make enough contact to be a big league regular.

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Here's what Law had to say about Olt who he ranks as the No. 2 prospect in the Rangers organization:

Olt's big league debut could have gone better, as he swung and missed a lot (13 K's in 33 at-bats) when he was able to get into the Rangers' lineup, but he's also the team's main trading chip and might have to wait for a deal to get his chance to play third base every day.

A poor defensive shortstop in college at UConn, Olt has remade himself into a plus defender at third, and he has big raw power that could produce 30-plus bombs a year if he makes enough contact. That's the main question on Olt at this point. Contact rates were an issue for him in college, and between Double-A and the majors last year, it's resurfaced to the point where he's probably going to be a low-to-moderate batting average guy who draws 60-70 walks a year and hits 20-25 homers.

The swing-and-miss problem isn't from his swing, though, which has gotten more direct since college, so perhaps he just needs more reps — he had just over 600 pro plate appearances coming into 2012 — to get past it.

And here's what he has to say about Barnes who he ranks as the fourth best Red Sox prospect.

Barnes shocked a lot of scouts this year with the leap forward in his fastball command, working with it up and down, side to side, so even though he wasn't consistently 93-97 as he was in college he could still get outs and set up his off-speed stuff.

He's ditched the below-average slider that screwed him up in his junior year at UConn and pitched most of the season with an above-average downer curveball that he could throw for strikes. His changeup gradually improved over the year as the Red Sox forced him to throw it a number of times each game, but even in Salem he was still getting hitters on both sides of the plate out with the fastball.

Barnes was a little experienced to spend the whole year in A-ball, so his stat line overstates how advanced he is, but he looks like a solid mid-rotation guy who'll be at least league-average, with a chance to profile better than that because of how well he locates the fastball.

Law's complete top 100: Index  | 1-25  | 26-50 | 51-75  | 76-100

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Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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UConn Women's Basketball links

Tina Charles has dominant EuroLeague season [jim fuller – new haven register]

Moriah Jefferson and UConn Have Been a Great Match [uconnhuskies.com]

UConn TV Timeout: Breanna Stewart [snyuconn.com]

UConn Men's Basketball links

Thoughts from St. John’s… [kevin duffy – ct post]

UConn's Slow Starts Frustrate Ollie [hartford courant]

Three points from Wednesday's loss to St. John's [new haven register]

UConn Football links

Closer look at UConn's recruiting class [jim fuller – new haven register]

Second impression: Signing Day 24 hours later [jim fuller – new haven register]

Report: UConn-Michigan tickets will only be sold to season ticket holders [the uconn blog]

State Farm: UConn Harvesting Home-Grown Talent [hartford courant]

Paul Pasqualoni turns six Connecticut kids into Huskies [new haven register]

Other UConn related links

W. Track. Valentine Invite Cancelled Due to Inclement Weather [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Ice Hockey. Saturday Hockey vs. Northeastern Postponed to Tuesday Night [uconnhuskies.com]

CPIA. UConn Honors 3.0 GPA Student-Athletes [uconnhuskies.com]

W & M. Tennis. Men's and Women's Tennis Matches Cancelled Due To Storm [uconnhuskies.com]

M. Ice Hockey. Men's Hockey Games Postponed To Sunday-Monday [uconnhuskies.com]

A Good First Step In Improving The XL Center [hartford courant]

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Feb. 7, 2013 — NESN, New England’s most-watched sports network, will deliver 49 consecutive days of live Boston Red Sox Spring Training coverage. For the first time, the network will co-anchor NESN Daily, the network’s nightly sports news and highlights program, live from the Red Sox spring training facility. In addition to NESN Daily from JetBlue Park at Fenway South, NESN will also originate an additional 72 hours of live programming that includes:

• 11 days of Red Sox LIVE from Fort Myers presented by Jordan’s Furniture
• 6 days of WEEI’s The Dennis and Callahan Morning Show
• 14 spring training games beginning Saturday, Feb. 23

NESN.com will also feature up-to-the-minute news and exclusive video in a special spring training section at NESN.com/springtraining.

11 Days of Red Sox LIVE from Fort Myers presented by Jordan’s Furniture

NESN’s live spring training coverage begins the day pitchers and catchers report, on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 6 p.m. with Red Sox LIVE from Fort Myers presented by Jordan’s Furniture. NESN studio host Tom Caron will be joined by Peter Gammons and Red Sox players, coaches and executives to deliver 11 consecutive days of live programming from JetBlue Park at Fenway South.

6 Days of WEEI’s Dennis and Callahan Morning Show

NESN’s live coverage from Fort Myers will also include six days of WEEI’s The Dennis & Callahan Morning Show beginning Wednesday, Feb. 13. John Dennis and Gerry Callahan will be at JetBlue Park at Fenway South to deliver exclusive interviews with players, coaches and other experts.

14 spring training games

NESN’s coverage of 14 Grapefruit League games will begin Saturday, Feb. 23, at 1:30 p.m., when the Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays at JetBlue Park at Fenway South. Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy will team up for their 13th season together in the NESN broadcast booth to deliver all the action, with Jenny Dell returning for her second season as NESN’s Red Sox reporter.

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BURLINGTON, MA, February 7, 2013 – Comcast SportsNet will provide viewers with more than 50 hours of Red Sox Spring Training coverage beginning Sunday, February 10^th and continuing through Monday, February 25^th. Special coverage will include reports from the state-of-the-art Red Sox Spring Training facility in Fort Myers with additional programming coming out of the studios in Burlington.

Spring Training coverage will tip off with Chevrolet SportsNet Central on Sunday at 9PM. The show will provide daily reports including news, key storylines developing both on and off the field, player analysis, team review, and one-on-one interviews with players and Red Sox personnel. Sports Sunday will immediately follow at 9:30PM taking a look at Spring Training happenings, and UNO’s Sports Tonight will include daily guests from on-site breaking down the Red Sox storylines. Additionally, there will be Spring Training content from Fort Myers featured in the Felger & Mazz show each day.

Comcast SportsNet’s coverage will be highlighted by six live special episodes of The Baseball Show Presented by Twin River Casino beginning Tuesday at 7PM. Each show will include frequent player appearances and a live call-in and onlineinteractive component giving fans an opportunity to pose questions to the on-air talent and provide their own insight on the Red Sox and Spring Training.

Special episodes of “The Baseball Show” are scheduled as follows:

• Tue, Feb 12, 7-8pm
• Wed, Feb 13, 11:30pm -12:30am
• Thu, Feb 14, 7-8pm
• Fri, Feb 15, 7-8pm
• Mon, Feb 18, 7-8pm
• Tue, Feb 19, 7-8pm

On-air talent covering the events from Fort Myers includes CSNNE Red Sox Insider Sean McAdam, Jessica Moran, Lou Merloni, Mike Giardi and Trenni Kusnierek with Bob Neumeier anchoring coverage from the Comcast SportsNet studios in Burlington, MA. Tony Massarotti will also be part of Comcast SportsNet’s Spring Training coverage from Burlington, including being part of three of the special episodes of The Baseball Show.

CSNNE.com will be the online place to go for sports fans to get all that and more.  In addition to features from all of the on-air coverage listed above, CSNNE.com will also provide breaking news, updates and unique features throughout Spring Training with daily insight and analysis from McAdam.

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Each year, ESPN Insider Keith Law ranks the farm systems based on his top 100 rankings.

In 2013, we find four members of the Boston Red Sox in his top 100. They are SS Xander Bogaerts (No.5), OF Jackie Bradley, Jr. (No. 40). RHP Allen Webster (No. 63) and RHP Matt Barnes (No. 79).

LHP Henry Owens just missed out on the top 100 coming in at 101.

Here's what Law had to say about each player:

Bogaerts:

A year ago, Bogaerts looked like a high-ceiling bat who'd have to find a new position, most likely third base, but a year of full-season ball at shortstop with continued work on maintaining his conditioning has his odds of remaining in the middle of the field up over even money. And a shortstop who can hit like this is a pretty special commodity.

Bogaerts has a very easy, picturesque right-handed swing, with great hand acceleration that leads to surprisingly hard contact — the ball comes off his bat much better than you'd expect, given his size. He gets his front leg down a little late, which could lead to timing issues but hasn't so far.

He's not likely to become a plus defender at short, but even fringe-average defense there would make him a five-win player or more given his bat. And given how he has managed to keep his waist lean and his lower half athletic so far, I like his chances to do just that.

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Bradley, Jr.

Bradley is a potential Gold Glove defender in center — meaning he'd be one of the best, not that he'd get the actual award, since the two have almost nothing to do with each other — who should hit for average and get on base as long as he doesn't overextend himself and try to hit for power.

He is just an average runner but his reads on balls in center rival those of the other elite defensive center fielders in the minors, even ahead of guys like Albert Almora and Mason Williams. His lower half can be a little noisy at the plate, getting his front foot down late, gliding over his front side and sometimes even drifting back mid-swing. But when he keeps his swing short and simple he generates hard line-drive contact from foul line to foul line, with doubles power that might max out around 10-12 homers a year. When he over-rotates to try to hit the ball out, he doesn't make enough contact and the result of the tradeoff is a net negative.

His best attribute as a hitter has been his plate discipline, producing high walk rates in the minors with good pitch recognition as well, producing a .373 OBP after his promotion to Portland.

His emergence in 2012 will probably help the Red Sox feel like they can let Jacoby Ellsbury walk as a free agent after the 2013 season, with a cheaper replacement, one without all of the injuries, waiting in the wings.

Webster:

Webster will show three plus pitches and looks like he should be at or near the top of someone's rotation, but as a converted position player, he has struggled to develop enough fastball command to translate the raw stuff into on-field success.

He will sit at 94 mph with his fastball and can reach 97 with plus sink that led to a 2:1 groundout-to-fly out ratio in Double-A this year, pairing it with a swing-and-miss changeup with good action and a slider that will flash plus but isn't as consistent as the other two pitches. As you'd expect from a former shortstop, he is athletic and can repeat his delivery well, but he lacks the feel for pitching that he'll need to succeed as a starter even at Triple-A, both in terms of just throwing strikes and in using and mixing his pitches more effectively.

The Red Sox were thrilled to get him from the Dodgers in the Adrian Gonzalez/Carl Crawford/Josh Beckett blockbuster that also netted Rubby De La Rosa (no longer eligible for this list) and view Webster as a potential No. 2 starter. I see that ceiling, but a lot of work between here and there.

Barnes

Barnes shocked a lot of scouts this year with the leap forward in his fastball command, working with it up and down, side to side, so even though he wasn't consistently 93-97 as he was in college he could still get outs and set up his off-speed stuff.

He's ditched the below-average slider that screwed him up in his junior year at UConn and pitched most of the season with an above-average downer curveball that he could throw for strikes. His changeup gradually improved over the year as the Red Sox forced him to throw it a number of times each game, but even in Salem he was still getting hitters on both sides of the plate out with the fastball.

Barnes was a little experienced to spend the whole year in A-ball, so his stat line overstates how advanced he is, but he looks like a solid mid-rotation guy who'll be at least league-average, with a chance to profile better than that because of how well he locates the fastball.

Owens:

Owens works at just 88-92 mph with a big, slow curveball and some feel for a change, but has posted high strikeout totals in the low minors because he hides the ball so well behind his 6-foot-6 frame that hitters don't pick it up, swinging through 88 mph like it's 94 mph. That can work for guys in the big leagues, but I'd like to see Owens, who doesn't have a ton of projection for future velocity gains, do it against a higher caliber of hitter before buying in fully.

Law's complete top 100: Index  | 1-25  | 26-50 | 51-75  | 76-100

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ESPN Insider Keith Law has released his top minor league systems for 2013 and we find the Boston Red Sox coming in at No. 13.

Law has the St. Louis Cardinals ranked No. 1 followed by the Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs.

Here's what Law had to say about the Red Sox:

A lot went right on the farm for Boston this year, with Xander Bogaerts looking like he can stay at shortstop, Jackie Bradley Jr. lighting everyone up with his plate discipline and Matt Barnes and Henry Owens posting very strong full-season debuts. The system's real shortage is in big league ready talent, with right-hander Allen Webster probably the closest.

I'm not surprised about this at all. Like he says, there's not enough big league ready talent. But things could change if Bogaerts and Bradley get off to hot starts this season.

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Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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UConn Women's Basketball links

Doty lowers the boom on Marquette [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Faris Strives For Perfection On And Off The Court [rich elliott – ct post]

Auriemma Talks Up Chong, All-America And N.Y. Record-Setter [rich elliott – ct post]

Doty Had One Of Those Nights Against Marquette [rich elliott – ct post]

UConn's Kelly Faris Also Stands Out In Classroom [hartford courant]

Three Points from Tuesday's win over Marquette [new haven register]

UConn Men's Basketball links

Kevin Ollie’s Take [dom amore – hartford courant]

Wrapping Things Up From The Garden [dom amore – hartford courant]

Shabazz Sits, Wolf, Sampson Spar, UConn Loses [david borges – new haven register]

Notes/Quotes from St. John’s: “When we play with effort and energy, you see what happens in the second half. That’s on me, and I’m going to have to make changes.” [kevin duffy – ct post]

Post-game breakdown, video: St. John's [gavin keefe – the day]

Then day after: UConn struggles [john silver – snyuconn.com]

Lost Swagger [uconn huskies basketball]

Late 9-0 St. John's run enough to put away UConn [ct post]

UConn can't win all the tight game [ct post]

UConn Falls To St. John's, 71-65 [hartford courant]

Napier Sits Out 5 Minutes For Rules Violation [hartford courant]

Huskies' rally falls short against St. John's [new haven register]

UConn can't overcome another slow start [the day]

UConn Football links

UConn OT Bennett granted a sixth year of eligibility [jim fuller – new haven register]

UConn lands six in-state products [jim fuller – new haven register]

Terry Richardson to Jaguars? [jim fuller – new haven register]

Business as usual for UConn despite coaching upheaval [jim fuller – new haven register]

Myers stays home [john silver – snyuconn.com]

UConn gains a recruiting bonus in Boyle [ct post]

A Closer Look At UConn's Recruits [hartford courant]

UConn Football Has 24 New Players, 6 From State; QB Lagow Does Not Return Signed Letter [hartford courant]

Tommy Myers: A Purebred Husky [hartford courant]

Jimmy Bennett granted sixth year of eligibility [new haven register]

Paul Pasqualoni turns six Connecticut kids into Huskies [new haven register]

Other UConn related links

M. Track. Men's Track & Field Set for Lafayette Rider Winter Games [uconnhuskies.com]

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