Last year, the Spinners couldn’t get a lot going. The pitching wasn’t there, the offense had trouble adapting to wooden bats, it was a struggle for the good guys all season. As I’ve written before, they did have some really good things happen, such as the break out of Felix Sanchez, Miguel Celestino and Hunter Cervenka. Madison Younginer looked better and better as the season progressed, and Kolbrin Vitek earned himself a promotion to Greenville halfway through the year.

All of those players are gone. The crop that does project (at the moment) to be in Lowell, though, looks to be fun to watch.

Garin Cecchini and Xander Bogaerts are two of the highest rated infielders in the organization, with ESPN’s Keith Law having Bogaerts in his organization Top 10.

Bogaerts will be 18 on Opening Day (June 17th), and already has a professional season under his belt with the Dominican Summer League team. Last year with the DSL Red Sox, he hit .314 with 3 homers, 5 triples and 42 runs batted in. He was only 17 years old last year. He has experience with the wooden bat, and should come in to Lowell ready to impress at the shortstop position.

Cecchini, a 4th round draft pick out of Lake Charles, Louisiana, is slated to be the Spinners third baseman. Cecchini waited until August 16th last year to sign, and ended up not playing for any affiliate last season. However, at Barb High School, Garin hit .545 as a senior, but did miss significant time due to an ACL injury. Before the injury, Cecchini was projected as a first round pick.

Most likely returning to the Spinners is fan favorite Seth Schwindenhammer. Last season for Lowell, Schwindenhammer found himself competing for playing time in a pretty packed outfield (Felix Sanchez, Bryce Brentz and Brandon Jacobs manned the starting positions), but as of now looks to be in Lowell’s Opening Day line up. However, when he did find playing time, he struggled a bit at the plate, hitting .192 in 33 games. There is a lot of power potential in his swing, but he has yet to translate that into games. Schwindenhammer was one of the last names in the 2010 Minors Moniker Madness, a contest in which fans got to vote for the best name in Minor League Baseball.

Every fan has a favorite player, and last year was no secret that Felix Sanchez was mine. With him going to Greenville, though, I’ve had to find another: Swen Huijer, I’ve talked to him a couple times, and he is just an insanely nice guy. Last year he pitched for the Gulf Coast League team for the third time, and put up solid numbers. The 6 foot 9 inch Huijer compiled a 5-2 record last season, and showed good command, only walking 10 hitters in 33.1 innings. Huijer doesn’t have the overpowering stuff you would expect out of someone his height, but tops out at 89 MPH on his fastball, but needs to work on his curveball and change up to have success in the next level.

Tyler Wilson is going to be the last prospect I talk about. He was also in Lowell last season, and had moderate success for the team. In 14 starts, Wilson led the Lowell staff in innings pitched (64.1), was second on the team in wins (3, tied with Madison Younginer) and 5th on the team in strikeouts, with 41. Wilson has a heavy fastball, and a good start to his season could result in a call up to Greenville.

Granted, this is all in the air right now. It’s not certain that any of these players will come to Lowell, or even stay in the Red Sox system. The MLB Draft hasn’t happened yet, either, and that’s where a big bulk of the 2011 team will come. One thing is for certain, though. I can not wait for Lowell Spinners baseball.

(Most of my stats came from SoxProspects.com, an excellent site if you are a fan of the Red Sox Minor League system.)