2025 Prospects

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

I didn't notice that DSL started a few days ago... 🤯

[Larry Cook]

8 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Sandlin is interesting. I seem to see the starts where he throws a lot of pitches and looks very relieverish and miss his real quality starts where he goes late into games. He's got STUFF, but needs to harness it. Maybe he's figuring it out? IDK. He'll be in WOO in a few weeks most likely. 

I thought early would be the next arm to go to Worcester!!! 

[Old Red]

Teel makes first appearance tonight for the other Sox.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Larry Cook said:

I thought early would be the next arm to go to Worcester!!! 

Sandlin has Rule 5 concerns. More urgency.

[mvp 78]

New SP rankings:

Notable Risers
Franklin Arias from 5 to 3
Jhostynxon Garcia from 13 to 7
Yordanny Monegro from 25 to 18
Enddy Azocar from 49 to 20
Blaze Jordan from 38 to 23
Tyler Uberstine from 56 to 25
Zach Ehrhard from 43 to 28
Matt McShane from 59 to 38
John Holobetz from 54 to 39
Freili Encarnacion from unranked to 49

Notable Fallers
Mikey Romero from 6 to 9
Dalvinson Reyes from 21 to 30
Yophery Rodriguez from 17 to 35
Nazzan Zanetello from 36 to 55
Max Carlson from 44 to 59
Bryan Mata from 46 to unranked

[Larry Cook]

At Worcester Garcia was 3 for 5 and Jordan was 1 for 4! 
at Greenville Anderson and blies both 2 for 4. With blies getting his 10th tater of the season. 
sadly. Arias hit streak ends! 
at Salem cespedes and musset both 2 for 4 with cespedes with his 4th tater of the season! 
Portland being beuhlered early in their game 

[moonslav59]

39 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

At Worcester Garcia was 3 for 5 and Jordan was 1 for 4! 
at Greenville Anderson and blies both 2 for 4. With blies getting his 10th tater of the season. 
sadly. Arias hit streak ends! 
at Salem cespedes and musset both 2 for 4 with cespedes with his 4th tater of the season! 
Portland being beuhlered early in their game 

Garcia is really looking like a hitter.

Bleis is on fire. Another dinger and up to .848. Maybe he is finally coming into his own.

Cespedes is heating up, too- a dinger and up to .742.

 

[Larry Cook]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Garcia is really looking like a hitter.

Bleis is on fire. Another dinger and up to .848. Maybe he is finally coming into his own.

Cespedes is heating up, too- a dinger and up to .742.

 

We have some talented youngsters in the pipeline. And while only arias is currently as talented as Mayer, Anthony, teel, Campbell or Montgomery, if blies reaches his potential, he could be the best of the bunch!!!!  

 

[Larry Cook]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Garcia is really looking like a hitter.

Bleis is on fire. Another dinger and up to .848. Maybe he is finally coming into his own.

Cespedes is heating up, too- a dinger and up to .742.

 

Don’t sleep on Anderson. His at bats are getting better and better. He still struggles to puck up the spin on the ball, but I like how he is developing this year!!!! This kid’s potential is intriguing 

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

We have some talented youngsters in the pipeline. And while only arias is currently as talented as Mayer, Anthony, teel, Campbell or Montgomery, if blies reaches his potential, he could be the best of the bunch!!!!  

 

There was always that "5 tool" talk, and maybe it comes true, but nobody ever saw him as being an Anthony or even Mayer, IMO.

We do have some players with high ceiling on the farm.

[moonslav59]

Got me thinking. This thread might become the best for the rest of the season.

[moonslav59]

Some opinions on our pitching prospects (rankings provided are from soxprospects.com):

Mata (ranked 3rd in '18) Murphy (ranked 13th in '19) and Drohan (ranked 6th in '23- just ahead of Perales) These three may very well have seen their ship sail. Drohan is 26, and saw his ranking spike after a very nice half season of pitching. Mata is 26 and has dealt with numerous injuries- just what the Sox need! Murphy was 26 a couple days ago, and he too has dealt with a major injury. He's pitching now, as is Mata. Drohan is on the IL. Expecting anything from just one of these three might be asking a lot, but the all once had some pretty high promise and hope.

Fitts (8th in '24) and Dobbins (12th right now) offer some hope as being decent #4/5 slot MLB pitchers. They both turn 26, later this year, and are in our current rotation, at least until Crawford or Sandoval return, or until Houck maybe gets another look. They are welcome rotational depth, at worst and maybe can be solid #3's, someday.

Guerrero is currently ranked at his highest point (#22) and is 24 years old. He's a decent RP'er who could still improve enough to be a solid set-up guy, over the next few years.

I started with these 6 as a group of hopefuls without very high ceilings. Maybe 2 of them end up being helpful, but none become really good. Perhaps one will surprise.

Perales is just 22, and has pitched in 5 seasons within the organization, but all shortened by injuries- major ones. For a SP to top out at 53 IP (in '23) that says a lot. Soxprospects.com still says he has the ceiling of a #2 and has the "best raw stuff of any arm in the system." It's hard to give up on him, and that is why he is currently ranked 4th, ahead of all other prospect pitchers.

Payton Tolle is also 22 and jumped up to #5 in the rankings, recently. SP's grades him as having a "potential mid rotation" ceiling, but this guy just started focusing on pitching only in his junior year in college. He's got a nasty fastball and stands at 6-6. I'm thinking maybe his ceiling is higher than a #3.

Juan Valera just turned 19, so much of his value is speculative. He was jumped to A+ ball and has struggled, this year (5.40 ERA,) but SPs says he has the "early makings of a potential high-end SP'er." His FB tops out at 100, but his secondary pitches need work. It's hard to not be hopeful with him.

Brandon Clarke just turned 22 and jumped up to #10, recently. The Sox promoted him to A+ after doing very well in Salem (0.93 ERA.) He's done pretty well, so far, this year. The 6-4 lefty has a nice FB (99mph) but SP's only projects him as a mid rotation SP'er or high leverage RP'er, at this point. Maybe that changes, if he keeps pitching like this, after his next promotion(s.)

Connelly Early is another tall lefty who just turned 23. He's got a 2.33 ERA in AA with a .610 OPS against, so far. He's ranked 11th and is projected to be a mid rotation SP'er as his ceiling. His velocity just ticked up to about 95, and he's still working on his other pitches, but I think this guy still has some high hopes.

David Sandlin rounds out the next group of 6, and maybe belongs in the next lower tier. He was ranked 8th to start the season (his high) but has slipped to 12th. He's 24 and may be best suited in the pen or as a swingman. SP's says he has "high range outcomes" with "four pitches that flash at least average."

The next group of 6 are all 21-27 years old and have some hopes, even if as decent pen arms.

Jedixson Paez (21) at #16. Low velocity may keep him from advancing much.

Yordanny Monegro (22) at #18. Tall and lanky with velocity of just 92-94.

Hayden Mullins (24) at #24. A small guy with a high variance of outcomes.

Blake Wehunt (24) and at #26. Big guy that may end up in the pen.

Tyler Uberstine (26) jumped up to 25th due to nice current season at Woo.

Zach Penrod (27) ranked 36th. Could be a decent set-up man.

The final 6 are young or very young pitchers that all have some decent promise:

#21 Conrad Cason (18) Two-way player with lots of potential.

#29 Sadbiel Delzine (17) 6-5 and 190 with a 4 pitch mix.

#30 Dalvinson Reyes (18) 6-5 and 200 has "high upside arm."

#40 Jojo Ingrassia (22) Missed 2023, so I'm adding him to the "younger list."

#43 Blake Aita (21) Has a nice mix or pitches with  "high spin rates."

#44 Yhoiker Fajardo (18) got in Cam Booser trade has "high range outcomes.)

Honorable or just plain Mentions: 

#34 Eduardo Rivera (21) 6-7 AND 275- maybe a LOOGY

#38 Matt McShane (22) great Salem start, not so great at GRE

#39 John Holobetz (22) part of Priester trade.

#47 Brady Tygart (22) 4 pitch mix and has fallen in rankings

#48 Brandon Neeley (21) began season on 60 Day IL.

#50 Jesus Travieso (18) IFA signing with no SP's scouting report, yet. DSL>FCL

(Dalton Rogers (24), Noah Dean (24), Brian Van Belle (28), Max Carlson (23) & Noah Song (28) who once was our #4 prospect are known to most of us, but offer little remaining hopes.)

40+ pitchers named, here. I think this is the deepest pitcher farm system we have had for as long as I paid attention to farm pitching depth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[moonslav59]

Jo Garcia homered for FCL, today. I'd like to see him in Salem or Greenville, soon.

Moran pitched a scoreless inning. Here's a pitcher who could amount to something.

[moonslav59]

Some opinions on our everyday player prospects:

Campbell (22) is now a recent grad and was highly ranked, nationally. Anthony (21) is #1 nationally and Mayer (22) is highly rated, as well and in MLB, now. I think enough has been said about all three, that nothing can be added, 

The next tier deserves to be a seperate tier, but some could soon be joining the top 20-50 rankings, nationally:

#3 Arias (19) A for real defensive SS who is showing he cana hit, too.

#7 Jh Garcia (22) LF/ 1B? He's been high on my rankings list for a while.

#13 Bleis (21) OF Was talked up as a 5 tool player, years ago. Heating up, now.

That's a very nice top 6, when you combine the tier 1 and tier 2's.

The next 6:

#14 Cespedes (19) DH/ ?? I've always been high on this kid's bat.

#9 Romero (21) 2B/3B/SS Was ranked 7th '22-'23- back from injury.

#17 D Soto (17) SS Given a $1.4M bonus as an IFA in '25.

#19 N Taylor (22) OF 11th rounder '23 with an overslot $300K bonus.

#28 Zach Ehrhard (22) OF- 4th rounder in '24 and looking good.

#44 Yophery Rodriguez (19) OF could have been in the next tier, but I think this guy has high hopes. Acquired in Priester deal.

The next tier are the younger ones. I almost included Soto, but he belongs in Tier 2, IMO.

#20 Enddy Azocar (18) Catcher- was ranked 51st to start '25.

#21 Conrad Cason (18) SS/P- probably stick with pitching.

#20 Jo. Garcia (20) Catcher who has missed time with injury.

#32 Harold Rivas (17) OF is an IFA signing ('25).

#33 Hector Ramos (17) SS is a 2025 IFA signing

#45 Antonio Anderson (19) 1B/3B 

The next 6:

#46 Starlyn Nunez (19) IF

#49 Freili Encarnacion (20) 1B/3B

#53 Justin Riemer (23) IF

#56 Kleyver Salazar (19) C

#57 Avinson Pinto (18) SS

#60 Anderson Fermin (18) OF

The next tier are players I have serious doubts on:

#23 Blaze Jordan (22) DH/1B- heating up, but for real?

#27 Allan Castro (22) Not in my top 50.

#42 Brooks Brannon (21) Catcher- had early higher hopes.

#55 Nazzan Zanetello (20) ??? 2B/SS Talk about high K rate.

28 names listed here. Pretty solid 18-24 prospects.

 

 

 

 

[Larry Cook]

I have never been a fan of Sox prospect and others ranking systems. I tend to rely on my eyes after seeing the prospects for a number of times!  (Pitchers are the exception, they can look absolutely and completely different game to game) 

last year, Portland was must watch games! The big 4, wow, very impressive. 

this year, Greenville is must watch for me. 
in Greenville, I see Anderson improving almost game by game, putting together more quality at bats, yet the prospect list fail to reflect it because the stats are not yet amazing!! He still needs to identify the spin on pitchers, but he is figuring it out and improving!!  Probably should stay at Greenville for the rest of this season. 
and arias is getting a lot of love from the prospects list, but I see a lot of rafeala in his approach to each at bat!!!  He will get promoted to Portland later this summer, the rafeala approach may come back to bite him a bit!!!!

[Larry Cook]

Roman Anthony with a 497 (changed to 437) foot grand slam today. Wow!!!  Amazing 

[moonslav59]

19 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Roman Anthony with a 497 (changed to 437) foot grand slam today. Wow!!!  Amazing 

Yes, #10 for Roman. Noda is looking good, too, but Romy and Toro are noy playing themselves out of their ML slots. Jh Garcia goes 0-5 and is still over 1.000. Jordan with 2 more hits. Fitts struggling. You gotta wonder, if he may not get another ML look, this year.

Yuten 3 for 4 w Salem,

 

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, #10 for Roman. Noda is looking good, too, but Romy and Toro are noy playing themselves out of their ML slots. Jh Garcia goes 0-5 and is still over 1.000. Jordan with 2 more hits. Fitts struggling. You gotta wonder, if he may not get another ML look, this year.

Yuten 3 for 4 w Salem,

 

Frieli with his first Greenville tater and a triple short of the cycle. 
 

the pitching at Salem is terrible, aita, bates, brooks, etc etc etc!!!!  Ugly!!!!

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

I have never been a fan of Sox prospect and others ranking systems. I tend to rely on my eyes after seeing the prospects for a number of times!  (Pitchers are the exception, they can look absolutely and completely different game to game) 

 

I like soxprospects.com, and I don't get to watch as many games as you do. I appreciate your insights.

I'm really pumped up over our farm, and maybe because I'm channeling my disappointment with the Sox towards the one plus we have.

I think we are deeper than many feel we are. They see 6 or 7 in the top 100 and thinks that's it.

I know we lack bonafide pitching prospects, but many good ones never amount to squat, anyway, so I like the fact that we have 20-25 pitchers with some sort of promise or hope. I'm figuring 2-3 might work out real well and another 3-4 pretty good to okay.

I'm supre high on the Garcia brothers and Cespedes, and now with Bleis mashing and Arias doing his thing, we have a nice second class coming in after soon graduating or past trading away Anthony, Mayer, Campbell, Teel and Montgomery.

How many teams have a second everyday 5 like ours does?

Arias, Jh Garcia, Bleis, Cespedes and Romero or Soto.

Couple that with deep yet not spectacular pitching, and I think are well set up.

[Larry Cook]

We have 4 of the top 100 draft picks in this upcoming draft. 
at 15, I really like Steele hall the short stop from Hewitt Trussville high school. 
At 33, I like Forbes the starting pitcher from Louisville. Or Riley quick the Alabama starter. 
At 75, I like the 6’ 8” starter from Michigan state dwerzia. 
at 87, I like the 6’6” Oregon catcher jaska 

I know that signing these guys would be problematic, so there is no way the draft can fall like this, but the draft is a chance for bres-slow to add more depth and talent to the farm system. 
 

everyone says the 2026 draft is exceptional in case our starting pitching continues to suck toilet water 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Larry Cook said:

We have 4 of the top 100 draft picks in this upcoming draft. 
at 15, I really like Steele hall the short stop from Hewitt Trussville high school. 
At 33, I like Forbes the starting pitcher from Louisville. Or Riley quick the Alabama starter. 
At 75, I like the 6’ 8” starter from Michigan state dwerzia. 
at 87, I like the 6’6” Oregon catcher jaska 

I know that signing these guys would be problematic, so there is no way the draft can fall like this, but the draft is a chance for bres-slow to add more depth and talent to the farm system. 
 

everyone says the 2026 draft is exceptional in case our starting pitching continues to suck toilet water 

Continued losing has helped our draft positioning, but we have always seemed to master the comp pick rules, as well as capitalized on the actual comp picks we get- often better choices than picks we made before them.

It's actually 4 in the top 87 picks, and with 30 teams, that's one more than we should. There is also added signing bonus money that goes with the extra pick(s.). We got the 33rd pick for Priester (YRod & Holebretz) and #75 for losing Pivetta to free agency. We lost our #54 pick for signing Breman.

Revisiting our spectacular Comp Pick history:

2005: Ellsbury & Lowrie for losing OCab, plus Buccholz for losing the declining Pedro.

2006: Daniel Bard for Damon

2009: Workman for J Bay

2011: Barnes for VMart & JBJ for A Beltre

2014: Kopech for Ellsbury (see 2005) Kopech also helped us get Sale.

2022: Anthony for losing ERod (He was our 3rd player selected)

2023: Kristian Campbell for losing Bogey, plus Riemer for losing Nate. We selected 4 players before KC

I hope we do well with this extra pick.

 

[Larry Cook]

How many of our top prospects should we use to acquire starting pitching??? 
starting pitching is the one thing we struggle to develop!!  
 

Maybe desperate Dave had it right and we need to spend the majority of our cap space on starting pitching either by trade or free agent signings 

[moonslav59]

Dorian Soto was 2-for-2, yesterday along with a pair of RBIs and a run scored gives him nine hits over his first 19 at bats with four runs driven in. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Larry Cook said:

How many of our top prospects should we use to acquire starting pitching??? 
starting pitching is the one thing we struggle to develop!!  
 

Maybe desperate Dave had it right and we need to spend the majority of our cap space on starting pitching either by trade or free agent signings 

We saw what it took to get Crochet and then extend him.

The Sale trade was long ago, and he had one more year of control than Crochet did.

I'm not sure who is available, but for the right price, anybody is.

Skenes comes to mind, and if we could get him without giving up two of our big 3, maybe it would be worth it.

I think we can only part with one from Mayer, Campbell and Arias. I don't think Romero, Grissom/DHam/Romy/Sogard and Alcantara, Anderson and Nunez is enough left-over depth, and much is too far away.

Parting with Anthony would be major, and I'm not sure Duran, Abreu or Rafaela is what a team like PIT wants to pay, instead of Skenes. We could roll the dice with our current 3 OF'ers plus Refsndyer & Jh Garcia, but imagine what we'd hear if Anthony becomes the stud some think he will be.

We'd likely have to also trade Fitts or Dobbins or Perales, Tolle, Clarke or Valera- maybe 2 pitchers.

Something like Anthony, Arias, Clarke and Fitts might be what PIT would demand.

Mayer, Jh Garcia, Tolle, Clarke and Dobbins?

I don't think a package like Arias, Jh Garcia, Jo Garcia, Cespedes and Monegro gets what it used to get a few years back, when farther away prospects were viewed as more valuable than they are now. (Besides, Arias might be our best prospect, in the long run.)

I really like the looks of this:

C Narvaez

1B Jh Garcia

2B Campbell

SS Arias

3B Mayer

If this means trading Anthony and rolling out Duran-Rafaela-Abreu, every night, I think I could live with that, as long as Crochet and Skenes top our rotation. We'd be without others like 2 from Bleis, Romero or Cespedes plus two from Perales, Clarke and Tolle, but at some point we have to make some hard choices. How long do we run with "depth?"

[Larry Cook]

Can we trade for skenes without parting with Mayer or Anthony. Every other prospect and a few regulars (Duran, Abreau, Casas, Devers and rafeala)  is available!! 

[Larry Cook]

Arias with a tater today !!!  

[moonslav59]

Jh Garcia went 1 for 3 with a BB and his OPS fell below 1.000. BTW, Woo won 5-4.

POR lost 6-2 as Wehunt got shelled.

Arias homered in GRE's win (2 for 5.) Re Rivera went 5.2 w 1ER, 8Ks, 1BB and 3H. Y Rod 2-5, Taylor walked 3 times.

Yuten is heating up with SAL (3-4.)

[Larry Cook]

37 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Jh Garcia went 1 for 3 with a BB and his OPS fell below 1.000. BTW, Woo won 5-4.

POR lost 6-2 as Wehunt got shelled.

Arias homered in GRE's win (2 for 5.) Re Rivera went 5.2 w 1ER, 8Ks, 1BB and 3H. Y Rod 2-5, Taylor walked 3 times.

Yuten is heating up with SAL (3-4.)

I expect the 6’7” Rivera to be moving to Portland in a couple weeks!!!