2025 Prospects

[mvp 78]

Valera would be the youngest pitcher on the Salem Red Sox right now. There are two 19 year olds (Bates and De La Cruz) and everyone else is 21 or above. He's still 18!

[mvp 78]

FCL starts tomorrow?!?!? Finally get to see some Justin Gonzales. 

[moonslav59]

22 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Bleis has already dropped in most rankings to the teens. He has really struggled (production and health) ever since the start of '23. I think they clearly hyped him a little too much.

I think Cespedes probably needs to be around where SP ranks Bleis mainly because he doesn't have a true defensive home. He'll have time to mature offensively, but I don't think he's ever going to get to even average defensively at any position.

Cespedes may end up dropping, but he's 2 years younger than Bleis.

Being a poor defender hurts, but it didn't bother the rise of Devers, although he did stick to one position.

[mvp 78]

28 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Cespedes may end up dropping, but he's 2 years younger than Bleis.

Being a poor defender hurts, but it didn't bother the rise of Devers, although he did stick to one position.

Devers was a year younger than Cespedes at each level, a much larger human being and producing at a farily high level. He also stayed healthy unlike Cespedes and Bleis. 

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Devers was a year younger than Cespedes at each level, a much larger human being and producing at a farily high level. He also stayed healthy unlike Cespedes and Bleis. 

I agree, and I do think no clear position hurts a player's rankings. I'm just saying, being a horrible defensive player, but having a known position should hurt, too.

I've been high on Cespedes from day one- perhaps I was way off.

[moonslav59]

Salem pulled out a win in 10. Encarnacion homered.

GRE is 10-10 in the 10th: Arias doubled & homered (2-4 w BB) Bleis 3-4 w BB (up to .851) Zanetello 2-3 w 2BB

POR lost 8-2, but Wehunt pitched okay. Jordan had 2 hits. (HR)

 

[Larry Cook]

Arias with his first Greenville tater tonight. 
 

 

[moonslav59]

On 5/2/2025 at 11:32 PM, Larry Cook said:

Arias with his first Greenville tater tonight. 

He was upstaged by Tolle, who K'd 12 in 5 scoreless innings. (3H and 0 BB)

The staffed K's 19!

[moonslav59]

Lowest OPS Against in the Sox system 

.234 Clarke A-/A+

.436 Burdi AAA

.463 Early AA

.465 Y Cruz AA

.470 McShane A-/A+

.473 Sena AA

.499 Cohen A-

.502 G Jackson AA/AAA

.519 Mullins A+/AA

.532 Bates A-

.533 Rogers A+

.543 Drohan AAA

.552 Mills AAA

.559 Criswell AAA

.579 Aita A-

.579 Stock AAA

.584 Kilander A-

.604 Uberstine AA

Other Notables:

.635 Brooks A-, .637 Hoppe AA, .645 INgrassia A+, .662 Carlson A+, .672 Dean A+ & .672 Wehunt AA, .679 Tolle A+, .686 Paez A+, .700 I Campbell AAA, .721 Vogatsky A-, .721 Cellucci AA/AAA,

.742 Sandlin AA, .743 Monegro AA, .773 Guerrero AAA, .774 O'Donnell, .786 Bello, .830 Dobbins, .852 Valera, .864 Mata. 1.382 Judice

[moonslav59]

The PTBNL in the Priester for Y Rod trade was announce, per Steve Adams:

The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve acquired right-hander John Holobetz from the Brewers as the player to be named later in last month’s trade that sent righty Quinn Priester from Boston to Milwaukee.

 

Holobetz, 22, was the Brewers’ fifth-round pick in the draft just last summer. The Old Dominion product didn’t pitch in 2024 following the draft but is out to a terrific start in 2025. He’s pitched 24 innings across five appearances in A-ball, logging a flat 3.00 ERA on 16 hits and five walks with 31 strikeouts. Holobetz has fanned 31.3% of his opponents and issued walks at just a 5.1% clip.

It’s a nice start to his pro career, but as a former college pitcher starting out in A-ball, Holobetz hasn’t yet been challenged by older and more advanced competition. How he fares in eventual moves up the ladder will be telling. The 6’3″ righty wasn’t ranked among Milwaukee’s best prospects heading into the season. He worked primarily as a reliever in college, but the Brewers have given him longer stints so far in pro ball.

[Larry Cook]

Anthony, Campbell Mayer and arias currently in the top 100! Who is the next red Sox prospect to join them???? 
Garcia? 
anderson? 
liendo? 
will any of our pitchers crack the top 100? 
 

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Anthony, Campbell Mayer and arias currently in the top 100! Who is the next red Sox prospect to join them???? 
Garcia? 
anderson? 
liendo? 
will any of our pitchers crack the top 100? 
 

I've been partial to Jh Garcia, but I could see one of these guys moving into or near the top 100:
 

Early or Tolle

Clarke or Y Rod

Long shot: Romero

[moonslav59]

Sabol hit a couple dingers for Woo, while Wink went 6 scoreless (3H, 0BB, 4K)

GRE lost, but Arias went 3-5 w a 2B.

SAL lost, but Cohen pitched well. Cespedes 0-4 w 4 Ks. Judice pitched 1/3 IP w 4BB and a Hit

[moonslav59]

Top Sox OPS on the farm (80+ PAs) :

.906 Anthony- what are we waiting for? .950?

.905 Romero- maybe his early hype was not wrong, afterall.

.885 A Anderson- maybe early returns were misleading on him, too

.883 Toro- getting his shot, now. The leash may be short.

.874 Eaton- may never make the big club.

.859 Ehrhard- Will the 22 year old be promoted to AA?

.858 A Lugo- gotta admit, I don't know much about this 21 y/o kid.

.858 F Encarnacion- He's only 20, so maybe

.851 A Liendo- I'm not sure I share in enthusiasm on this

.844 Arias- starting to show he can do it at the A+ level. Next stop: Portland.

.830 Rosier- took a long time to show some life. Was part of Jay Groome for Hosmer trade.

.811 Sabol- would have been nice to hit just .711 with BOS.

.808 Mayer- seems blocked, right now.

.808 Alcantara- seems to be slipping, recently, but is still just 20.

.807 Jh Garcia- does he get the AAA call, soon, or maybe when Anthony comes to BOS.

.807 N Taylor- not bad for the 22 y/o in A+ ball.

.796 Bleis- finally showing some signs of reaching the early hype was given.

.790 Binelas- the other guy included in the JBJ and DHam for Renfroe trade.

.771 Grandal- will he ever get a chance, if no current catcher gets hurt? How about 1B?

.769 Y Rod- apparently has the tools.

.767 Grissom- starting to slip from the great start of the season

[Hugh2]

New BA TOP 100

1. Roman Anthony - Jumped over Sasaki who is still ranked

3. Kristian Campbell -

9. Marcelo Mayer

68. Franklin Arias

94. Payton Tolle

96. Brandon Clarke

It's kind of crazy the Sox can trade away their top draft pick from last year to get Crochet and still have two guys from that draft crack the top 100. Both pitchers. 

Also, one has to imagine if Perales was healthy he would be top 100, he was still listed as a just missed guy. 

Valera isn't on the national radar yet, or at least in this top 100 but given his trajectory it's only a matter of time. 

The Sox system is loaded top to bottom. 

[Larry Cook]

Has anybody watched pinto at the Florida complex??? Swiped 3 more bases yesterday!!!?

[Larry Cook]

6 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

New BA TOP 100

1. Roman Anthony - Jumped over Sasaki who is still ranked

3. Kristian Campbell -

9. Marcelo Mayer

68. Franklin Arias

94. Payton Tolle

96. Brandon Clarke

It's kind of crazy the Sox can trade away their top draft pick from last year to get Crochet and still have two guys from that draft crack the top 100. Both pitchers. 

Also, one has to imagine if Perales was healthy he would be top 100, he was still listed as a just missed guy. 

Valera isn't on the national radar yet, or at least in this top 100 but given his trajectory it's only a matter of time. 

The Sox system is loaded top to bottom. 

Valera could be special! Threw 5.2 innings today and looked really good. Nasty slider!!!

[moonslav59]

Aita went 5 scoreless today (2.73) 3 hits and 0 BBs. Yuten & Cespedes hit their first dingers.

Valera went 5.2 with 8Ks and just 1 BB (4 hits and 0 runs) Arias and Taylor went 3-5 (Taylor had 2 dbls and a trpl) Bleis 2-3 w BB (.838, now.)

[Larry Cook]

Bleis looks like he is starting to figure out this hitting thing. 
zantanello on the other hand is still a mess 

[moonslav59]

Anthony and Mayer with 2 more hits, each, again. What more do they need to prove? Anthony added a BB, while both Mayer's hits were XBHs. Sabol and Grandal both has 2 hits, too. Drohan let up 1 run in 3IP and Luis Guerrero got the win in relief (2 no hit IP.)

[Hugh2]

15 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Valera could be special! Threw 5.2 innings today and looked really good. Nasty slider!!!

I'm fairly certain given the aggressive assignment and how young he is that he will remain in Greenville for most of the year no matter how good he is pitching.  But he could end up in Portland at the end of the year even if it's only for a start or a few.  That would be pretty nuts to have a kid who started the year 18 years old finishing in AA. 

At this point it might be more about building up strength and stamina for him than developing the pitches to get MLB league hitters out.  I wouldn't want him rushed before they're confident he can go a whole season. 

[Hugh2]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Anthony and Mayer with 2 more hits, each, again. What more do they need to prove? Anthony added a BB, while both Mayer's hits were XBHs. Sabol and Grandal both has 2 hits, too. Drohan let up 1 run in 3IP and Luis Guerrero got the win in relief (2 no hit IP.)

Nothing.  The Sox don't want to mess with a guys development and switch their positions, and if they were (and they could) I would think they would do it at the MILB level.  

That would probably only delay his MLB career because you'd think that want him to play the position for at least a month down in AAA.  Starting a MLB career is hard enough, they're not going to make a guy adjust to MLB and have to learn a new position at the same time. 

At some point, in the absence of someone going down to create an opening they WILL find a way to make room for at least Anthony.  I still think we could see him in about a month from now. 

 

[mvp 78]

Mayer’s OPS is only 832. It’s not like he’s completely dominated AAA. He’s doing well, but I think scouting the boxscore every morning isn’t going to determine when he gets the call.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

I'm fairly certain given the aggressive assignment and how young he is that he will remain in Greenville for most of the year no matter how good he is pitching.  But he could end up in Portland at the end of the year even if it's only for a start or a few.  That would be pretty nuts to have a kid who started the year 18 years old finishing in AA. 

At this point it might be more about building up strength and stamina for him than developing the pitches to get MLB league hitters out.  I wouldn't want him rushed before they're confident he can go a whole season. 

Well said.

I'm feeling more and more confident that our farm system will remain highly ranked, even after the big 3 graduate- maybe not top 3-5, but top 6-8, maybe.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

Nothing.  The Sox don't want to mess with a guys development and switch their positions, and if they were (and they could) I would think they would do it at the MILB level.  

That would probably only delay his MLB career because you'd think that want him to play the position for at least a month down in AAA.  Starting a MLB career is hard enough, they're not going to make a guy adjust to MLB and have to learn a new position at the same time. 

At some point, in the absence of someone going down to create an opening they WILL find a way to make room for at least Anthony.  I still think we could see him in about a month from now. 

 

Anthony could play FT LF, starting today. Duran CF and Abreu/Ref RF (or Abreu/Raf.) The only starter affected would be Rafaela,  and he would be a super utility guy that would end up booting Romy or DHam off the 26, as the other guy most affected.

The Mayer call-up is much more complex, but move of Campbell to 1B would create a FT single position for Mayer: SS (Story to 2B) or 2B. (The Campbell move may "affect his development," but he seems to be a quick adjuster.)

 

[Hugh2]

20 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Mayer’s OPS is only 832. It’s not like he’s completely dominated AAA. He’s doing well, but I think scouting the boxscore every morning isn’t going to determine when he gets the call.

I think Mayer gets a call if there's a long term injury up the middle.  Although hypothetically they could bring up Anthony and move Rafaela to 2nd/SS.   Otherwise I don't think it's harmful for him to be spending all or most of the season in AAA. 

Anthony is the one who I think is going to knock down the door soon enough. 

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Anthony could play FT LF, starting today. Duran CF and Abreu/Ref RF (or Abreu/Raf.) The only starter affected would be Rafaela,  and he would be a super utility guy that would end up booting Romy or DHam off the 26, as the other guy most affected.

The Mayer call-up is much more complex, but move of Campbell to 1B would create a FT single position for Mayer: SS (Story to 2B) or 2B. (The Campbell move may "affect his development," but he seems to be a quick adjuster.)

 

Or we call Pittsburgh and package some bats for chandler! 
and it looks like Atlanta still needs a shortstop 

[moonslav59]

I would not trade anything worthwhile for a 1Bman.

We have prospects that are ML ready. Just shift someone around and use what we got, or find the next Dom Smith.

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I would not trade anything worthwhile for a 1Bman.

We have prospects that are ML ready. Just shift someone around and use what we got, or find the next Dom Smith.

Should Garcia at Portland start playing 1B??? Grissom is fading into the abyss 

[moonslav59]

51 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Should Garcia at Portland start playing 1B??? Grissom is fading into the abyss 

No. Jh Garcia will not be ML ready, this year.

We have two top prospects that are ML ready.

Shuffle someone to 1B and make room for one.

Campbell seems to make sense. Story is an option, but Campbell is taller and has no set position, anyway, right now.