By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

In the latter half of March, Pawtucket Red Sox President Mike Tamburro often talks like a farmer/weatherman. He worries that the weather won’t allow his team to properly grow its crops beginning in early April when the International League season commences.

“We’ve got to wake this stuff (the grass at McCoy Stadium) up,” the always affable Tamburro was saying on Monday afternoon while discussing Pawtucket’s April 3 home opener against Indianapolis.
“I think this is the earliest home opener in our history,” Tamburro said, looking back over the 32 years he has been connected with the local Triple-A franchise. “I keep waiting for the weather to warm up a little, give us a few of those ‘tease’ days where the sun is shining and the grass can start to grow. But we haven’t had any of those yet. Maybe Mother Nature is holding off until the first week in April. That would be great, wouldn’t it?”
Tamburro then puts on his farmer’s hat, speaking of the many young prospects who have matured in Pawtucket over the past few years, players like Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury who spent varying amounts of time in a PawSox uniform before heading to Boston and becoming integral parts of the 2007 World Series championship squad.
“I think we’re having a three- or four-year class of prospects in the farm system who rival what we had back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Bruce Hurst, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, John Tudor, Bobby Ojeda, Marty Barrett and Oil Can Boyd came through Pawtucket,” Tamburro said. “In the early 1990s, we had another good run with Timmy Naehring, Mo Vaughn, Phil Plantier and John Valentin. The last few years, we’ve seen a lot of good young players develop in the farm system and some of them have made it all the way to Boston.”
Ellsbury only played 87 games in Pawtucket last season, hitting .298, stealing 33 bases and terrifying opposing catchers and infielders around the International League. Righthanded pitcher Clay Buchholz also made only the briefest of stops in Pawtucket, compiling a 1-3 record and 3.96 earned run average, numbers that don’t tell the story of his electric stuff that made so many Triple-A hitters look bad. The key stats with Clay were a 1.16 WHIP (walks and hits per inning) along with 55 strikeouts in 38 innings.
Jon Lester also spent time in Pawtucket for the second straight year, winning four of nine decisions and pitching to a 3.89 earned run average while recovering strength following his 2006 battle with Hodgkin’s disease.
Those players are gone now, unlikely to return except for rehab situations. PawSox manager Ron Johnson and former pitching coach Mike Griffin prepared them well.
Red Sox baseball fans must now wonder … who’s next in Pawtucket? And Mike Tamburro has the answer.
“Things are still evolving,” he said, speaking of Boston’s final cuts this coming weekend. “But there are some guys we definitely expect to see in Pawtucket. Brandon Moss will be here. There’s been a lot of talk that he will see plenty of time around first base. (Moss, who starred in Bostons Opening Day 6-5 win over Oakland on Tuesday morning, had been strictly an outfielder until his stint in Boston last September.)
“Our shortstop will be Jed Lowrie,” Tamburro continued. “I thought Jed played a steady shortstop for us last year. He stabilized our infield after he got here. So it was surprising to me when I read that some of the critics talk about him not having all the things he needs to be a big league shortstop.”
Lowrie, a product of Stanford University, batted .300 on the nose for Pawtucket last summer after a callup from Portland. He slugged a healthy .506 and hit 5 homers with 21 RBI in 160 at-bats.
“Jed’s a switch-hitter,” Tamburro noted. “He’s a very bright young man with great character. That’s been true of so many players who have gone on to Boston. Youkilis, Pedroia and Ellsbury all were good kids. I think there’s no doubt Boston is looking into that when it drafts these guys. The organization is really focusing on character.”
While Moss and Lowrie are the two position players most likely to visit Boston this season, there are several other prospects who could make it to Fenway Park in due time.
“I think our catching situation is interesting,” Tamburro said. “We’ve got two catchers – George Kottaras and Dusty Brown. You wonder which one of these guys will emerge and eventually become Boston’s catcher. Kottaras struggled a bit last year for us at the plate and behind the plate. Then he came on strong in the second half.
“Dusty Brown is more of a defensive catcher,” Tamburro added. “Pitchers like to pitch to him. He runs the game very well. And he has work to do on his offense.”
Brown batted .268 for Portland before moving up to Pawtucket late last season. Kottaras, obtained from San Diego in the 2006 David Wells trade, didn’t get his average over .200 until late July, then finished at .241 with 9 homers and 39 RBI. He didn’t catch every day because the PawSox also had Kevin Cash on the roster. Cash, a light hitter, already had big league defensive skills and is now the backup to Jason Varitek in Boston.
 “Our pitching staff should be led by Devern Hansack (10-7, 3.61) and David Pauley (6-6, 4.33),” Tamburro noted. “Pauley is only 24 years old. We’ll probably have Charlie Zink (2-3, 5.89) in the rotation. Two young pitchers we won’t see at the start are Justin Masterson and Michael Bowden. They both have two great arms. I expect they’ll start out in Portland. We might see one of them by June.
 “I think this is also a big year for Craig Hansen,” Tamburro said, speaking of the erratic relief pitcher who may have been rushed through the system too quickly after getting drafted in the first round three summers ago. “Is this the year Craig figures it out?”
Tamburro will watch this season’s group of young prospects develop along with the rest of PawSox Nation. Boston’s success in developing talent has played right into Pawtucket’s hands, giving owner Ben Mondor and his staff a great product on the field.
“The building is in pretty darn good shape,” Tamburro said, speaking of McCoy Stadium, the rejuvenated old park that has now become a regular stop for Red Sox fans throughout the region and beyond. “Mick Tedesco (VP of Stadium Operations) and his crew have the place shining. Now we just need some warm weather.”