Want to make it to the major leagues? Make sure you stop off in Portland, Maine. An analysis by the
Portland Press Herald reveals that
nearly one-third of all players who reach Boston's AA Portland Sea Dogs (31.8%) make it to the big leagues.
And, quite a few of them excel. The paper estimates that by the end of this season, 8.6% will have played in at least 1,000 MLB games. The Portland franchise has been in existence for 25 years now—and became affiliated with the Red Sox in 2003. Thus, 97 of the players who went on to
'The Show' were from the Marlins organization (does
Kevin Millar ring a bell?), while the rest (118) were wearing
Carmine Hose.
Some of the stellar alums from the Red Sox organization are:
Dustin Pedroia,
Andrew Benintendi,
Jackie Bradley Jr.,
Mookie Betts,
Jacoby Ellsbury,
Jonathan Papelbon,
Brandon Moss,
Jed Lowry,
Xander Bogaerts and
Hanley Ramirez. So, if you have your heart set on an MLB playing career, ask your travel agent about booking you into Portland. Plus, the seafood is
damn good.
