Meet Justin Masterson

The top pitching prospect currently in the Sox farm system will make his major league debut today at Fenway Park. So lets take a few minutes to meet Justin Masterson.

The 6-6 righty was a second round pick out of San Diego State in 2006. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica where his dad was dean of students at the Jamaican Theological Seminary. He moved to Indiana when he was two years old and his family eventually returned to their home in Ohio.

Masterson will get a lot of ground balls and his fair share of strikeouts. He is compared to Derek Lowe by SoxProspects.com. So far in 2008 he has 77% of balls hit against him have been ground balls or infield pops, most of the balls out of the infield will go to left field.

Click here for a chart of balls in play against Masterson.

The SoxProspects scouting report on Masterson says:

Big righty with an ideal pitcher's build. Dominated the Cape Cod League in 2005. Masterson has a three-quarter delivery with a slinging-type motion. His arsenal includes a sinker, a slider, and a change-up.

Of those pitches, his best is a phenomenal plus-sinker with an excellent heavy drop -- he can vary its speed from 84-94 mph, catching many hitters off balance. Also mixes in a very good slider that sits in the low 80s, and an improving 77-81 mph four-seam circle change.

Uses his sinker predominantly as his out-pitch, but also can make use of his secondary pitches to get out of jams. His mix of pitches results in a high groundball-to-flyball ratio, getting a lot of double plays. Very good command of the zone.

Prepares well for every game and pitches with confidence on the mound. Strong character, Masterson is one of the most likable persons and teammates going. Could stand to mix in his changeup a bit more. Converted to a starter in 2007 after coming out of the pen for Lowell in 2006, may still project as a reliever at this point depending on how well his change-up progresses.

Needs to work on keeping his delivery consistent deep into games. Ultimately, Masterson's ceiling is a #2 starter or a dominant set-up man.

Game time is 1:35. Masterson makes his debut against the same team Clay Buchholz did last season, lets hope for similar results.

Meantime, Red at Survivng Grady knows exactly what the Sox players suffering from the flu need to do:

Meanwhile, to those Sox players who are currently battling the flu, understand that you can still make yourselves useful. You can start by hugging Gary Matthews.