Article: Keep An Eye On Salem's Franklin Arias

[Nick John]

The 19-year-old shortstop is impressing with his bat as well as his glove.

The Boston Red Sox continue to have one of the deepest farm systems in baseball. Many fans know about top prospects Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer, others are making strong impressions early on in the season. Infielder Franklin Arias has started off str ong in his first six games in Salem and may soon be a name to know too.

Arias is a 19-year-old shortstop who signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela at the age of 17. Arias has shown solid range with smooth action and soft hands. Confident in his defense, he’s able to make difficult plays look rather routine and is viewed as possibly being an above-average defender at second base or an average defender if he sticks at shortstop. In Salem, Arias has split time between second base and shortstop with 10 games at the former and 26 at the latter.

Originally considered a glove-first shortstop, Arias managed to surprise and impress the organization with strong underlying batted ball data. Playing in six games so far this season, Arias has 12 hits in 24 at-bats with only three strikeouts. Thanks to a simple right-handed stroke and advanced swing decisions for his age, he’s able to make repeated contact and avoid racking up strikeouts. In his first game of the season, Arias started off strong as he got three hits, including two doubles in his five at-bats. And that hot hitting has carried on since, as he’s gotten at least one hit and managed to reach base at least twice in every game.

Arias played fantastically with both the Dominican Summer League Red Sox and the Florida Complex League Red Sox. In 2023, he played 37 games in the Dominican Summer League and absolutely raked batting .350. In 2024, he was even better in the Florida Complex League as he played in 51 games and managed to hit .355/.471/.584 with six home runs. Due to his great play, Arias was named the league’s top prospect. Aftrer a promotion to Salem in 2024, Arias slashed .257/.331/.378 in 36 games as an 18-year-old. Despite being one of the youngest guys in the Carolina League, Arias held his own and now, in a small sample size, he is putting the league on notice at the age of 19. While he hasn’t hit for much power so far (nine of his 12 hits are singles), he continues to put the ball in play and force the defense to make plays. 

Arias has only improved since his first stint at Salem and continues to impress not just those within the Red Sox organization but across baseball, making his way onto multiple top 100 prospects lists. Time will tell whether the hot start is just that or whether he will force his way to Greenville.

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[moonslav59]

He's got a hit in every game, this year, but he is 0-3 w a BB, today. He will get one more AB in the 8th or 9th.

His OPS is over 1.000, now!

GRE soon?

[Nick John]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He's got a hit in every game, this year, but he is 0-3 w a BB, today. He will get one more AB in the 8th or 9th.

His OPS is over 1.000, now!

GRE soon?

Good chance if he keeps this up he'll be up in Greenville sooner than later. He's impressed at every stop so far (even if just the Complex Leagues) and has turned into a better prospect than imagined. Once Mayer, Anthony and Campbell graduate don't be surprised if he moves into the top 3 for the Sox system

[mvp 78]

Arias really struggled after being called up to A ball last year. Nice to see him get off to a hot start in '25. 

Last 4 games: 3 - 13, 0 XBH, 2 BB, 0 K

He has reached base safely in every game so far. Not sure he'll get a quick call to GRE as they have Zanetello playing SS and I think they are going to give him a long leash there this year.