PORTLAND — Jason Place has spent all of three days in New England, but he’s already figured out one very important thing.

He’s smack dab in the thick of Red Sox Country.

Place, a right fielder who was promoted to the Portland Sea Dogs late last week from Single-A Salem, could tell right off that he had arrived in a place that takes its Sox, even the farmhands, very seriously.

“You drive around and see a construction sign with ‘Go Red Sox’ on it,” said Place, who was Boston’s first round draft choice (27th overall) back in 2006. “We’ve averaged 7,000 people a night since I’ve been here. It’s pretty crazy. People are fanatical up here. It’s awesome to play in front of them. It’s definitely a great feeling to have the fans and the support.”

Now in his fourth professional season, Place’s climb through the Sox system has been a steady one.

He was the first of four first round choices made by the Sox that year, (Daniel Bard, Kris Johnson and Caleb Clay were the others), taken straight out of Wren H.S. in Piedmont, S.C., after being named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year.

Regarded then, as now, as a player with five-tool potential, Place admitted that shouldering the first-round expectations was something of a burden, at times.

“My first year and a little bit of my second one,” he said, “I thought I had to go out and prove something to everybody. But when you think about it, the only thing you have to prove is to yourself. Now, I’ve been pretty good at going out and just having fun, and letting my tools play. Hopefully, I’ll get my feet wet here. Get the (kinks) out.”

This is Place’s first season as a corner outfielder after having played his first three pro campaigns in center field.

With that adjustment, plus the challenge presented by facing better pitching each rung up the organizational ladder, Place has had to learn to keep the game in proper perspective.

“The game of baseball is the same game (at each level),” he said. “A lot of guys hype it up as a mental thing. They get so ‘amped’ up and anxious. They end up chasing balls out of the zone, instead of staying relaxed, like you were at the lower levels. That’s basically my thought process.”

Place (0-for-4, 3 ks) struggled along with the rest of his new teammates, Sunday, when the Sea Dogs suffered an 11-3 rout to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, before a crowd of 7,303 at Hadlock Field.

Portland starter Ryne Lawson (1-8) was hammered by the Cats in the first inning, when he surrendered six of his eight runs.

“We were begging not to have to (pitch backup catcher) Jon Still,” said Dogs skipper Arnie Beyeler. “If you saw that scoreboard and guessed that I would never have to go to the mound (with a position player) today, you wouldn’t have believed it.”

New Hampshire starter Randy Boone threw six stellar innings, allowing just one run while matching his career high of nine strikeouts.

Ryan Kalish’s eighth-inning solo homer, his third of the season, was among the Sea Dogs’ few highlights.

CHIN MUSIC: The Dogs were slated to head into the two-day Eastern League All-Star break following this afternoon’s matinee with New Hampshire. Portlanders heading to Trenton, N.J. For the mid-summer classic are 3B Jorge Jimenez, 1B Lars Anderson, and LHP Dustin Richardson. ”¦ Also selected was RHP T.J. Large, but you can cross him off the list, now that he has received a well-deserved promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket. Large left Portland Saturday with stellar numbers (3-0, 1.08). He’ll fill a vacancy on the PawSox roster left open when reliever Randor Bierd left the team temporarily to deal with personal matters. ”¦ An All-Star replacement for Large will be named today. ”¦ Also in Pawtucket, with RHP Clay Buchholz passing up this week’s Triple-A All-Star game in Portland, Ore., former Sea Dog Jose Vaquedano has gotten the call as a replacement. Vaquedano, who is having a strong season as a reliever for the PawSox, will be making his first-ever All-Star trip. ”¦ Portland catcher John Otness was sporting a massive bruise on his upper right arm, a souvenir of his first inning blindsiding at the plate by New Hampshire’s Nick Gorneault.

— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.