STEP ASIDE AND LET THE OTHER MAN ROLL IN:

Oh brother, Papelbons shine all over (Jeff Horrigan, July 14, 2006, Boston Herald)

Forty-eighth round draft choices do not typically get showered with standing ovations upon entering games, customized chants and endless requests for autographs just weeks after turning professional.

Then again, not many 48th-round draft choices find themselves in the unique situation of playing Single-A ball just up the road from an overachieving older brother who has been nearly flawless during his first half-season as closer for a first-place, major league club.

“It’s unbelievable,” Lowell Spinners closer Joshua Papelbon said. “Every time I come into a game, it’s a standing ovation and everyone chanting, ‘Papelbon,’ and everyone wanting autographs. I knew it was going to be somewhat like this because of my brother but not this intense. I don’t think there’s ever been this much hoopla for a 48th-rounder.”

Papelbon, 23, bears a physical resemblance and possesses the same, “Awww-shucks” personality as his older brother, Jonathan. But that’s where most of the similarities end. Unlike the Boston closer, who was a highly regarded, hard-throwing fourth-round draft choice out of Mississippi State in 2003, the younger Papelbon is a submarine-style right-hander who nearly went undrafted before being selected by the Red Sox out of the University of North Florida with the 52nd of their 54 choices.

While hardly considered a can’t-miss prospect, he has done little on the field for the Spinners to end the comparisons to his brother. Through six appearances entering last night’s action, Papelbon is 0-0 with a two saves and a perfect 0.00 ERA, while striking out nine batters and walking only one in 7 1/3 innings.

So he can use Super Bon Bonn.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 14, 2006 7:35 AM