North Carolina State University Athletics
Aaron Bates Called Up To Boston
7/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Boston Red Sox have promoted former NC State first baseman Aaron Bates from their Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket. According to The Boston Globe, Bates will play first base and bat ninth in tonight's game vs. Oakland.
Aaron Bates, a third-round pick for the Red Sox in 2006, was promoted from Portland to Pawtucket on June 7 after batting .370 (40-for-108) with seven doubles, six homers, and 28 RBIs for the Sea Dogs. He also had a .456 on-base percentage and .602 slugging percentage (1.058 OPS), reaching base safely in all but two of his 28 games in May.
According to the story in The Globe, Bates was not on the 40-man roster as of Monday afternoon, meaning the Red Sox will have to make some kind of roster move before Monday's game vs. the Athletics.
Here's tonight's complete Red Sox lineup:1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Kevin Youkils, 3B
4. David Ortiz, DH
5. Jason Bay, LF
6. Jason Varitek, C
7. Rocco Baldelli, RF
8. Nick Green, SS
9. Aaron Bates, 1B
-- John Smoltz, SP
Bates earned All-America honors for NC State in 2005 when he batted .425 with 12 home runs and 64 RBIs in 58 games. He followed that up a year later by hitting .354 with 10 homers and 54 RBIs in 2006. His career batting average of .387 still stands as a school record for batters with at least 150 career at-bats.
