Red Sox Farm System Update: Mikey Romero, Blake Aita Continue Scintillating Starts

[Billy Mock]

Overall, it was a pretty solid week for the Red Sox farm system, as a number of underrated prospects stepped up and delivered some solid performances both offensively and on the mound. 

Worcester Red Sox (Triple-A): 2-4 (16-16 overall)

It was a tough week for the Woo Sox as they dropped four of six to the Toledo Mud Hens, the Detroit Tigers' Triple-A affiliate, at home. The pitching staff did its job for the most part, posting a 4.17 ERA on the week, but the bats just failed to come through. Top prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer both had a rough time at the plate, with neither collecting an extra-base hit. As an offense, the Sox only managed a .650 OPS and four home runs on the week. However, there were a few vets with some big hits. Trayce Thompson and Connor Wong both hit home runs while Nate Eaton led the charge with a home run and two doubles of his own over 24 plate appearances. After falling to .500, Worcester is looking for a bounce-back week as they travel to Lehigh Valley to take on the Iron Pigs, the Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A affiliate. 

Featured Prospect: Corey Rosier

Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of performances that stood out for the Woo Sox in what was a lackluster week, but Corey Rosier had a stat line worth noting. Rosier hit one of the four home runs hit by Worcester batters this week, and had four more hits over 14 plate appearances. Rosier is a 25-year-old outfielder that was selected in the 12th round of the 2021 draft by the Seattle Mariners. It has been an up and down pro career for Rosier thus far, but he seems to finally be coming around as a hitter. He was called up to Worcester on April 20th, and has posted a .371/.436/.571 slash line since joining the ball club. It has been his best season in the Red Sox farm system since he was drafted in 2021, and is up to an .833 OPS on the season between Double-A Portland and Worcester.  

Portland Sea Dogs (Double-A): 5-3 (16-9 overall)

The Sea Dogs continue to play like the best team in the farm as they sit atop the Eastern League standings at the moment. It was a long week for Portland as they had two makeup games from earlier in April, so there were two double-headers on the schedule for them. They took on the Toronto Blue Jays Double-A affiliate, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, on the road managing to improve their record on the road to 8-7. 

There were plenty of solid performances across the board for the Sea Dogs, both on the mound and at the plate. Hayden Mullins, TalkSox Minor League Pitcher of the Month for the month of April, made his Double-A debut on Thursday and proceeded to pick right back up where he left off in Greenville. Mullins fired off five and two-thirds innings of one-run ball while striking out ten. Offensively, it was Blaze Jordan, the 2020 third-round pick that led the way. Over 27 plate appearances, Jordan posted a .435/.519/.739 slash line along with two home runs. The Sea Dogs look to stay hot as they return home this week to take on the Baltimore Orioles Double-A affiliate, the Chesapeake Baysox.

Featured Prospect: Mikey Romero

There were plenty of solid showings for the Sea Dogs this week, but the performance that stood out most came from the Red Sox 2022 first-round draft pick. Mikey Romero led all Red Sox farmhands with three home runs on the week on his way to a 1.079 OPS. Romero comes in ranked as Boston's 12th overall ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline and is certainly building upon his 2024 breakout campaign as a prospect. He's up to five home runs on the season with a .267/.370/.535 slash line across 101 plate appearances thus far in Portland. The 21-year-old shortstop should find his way to Triple-A Worcester soon given Marcelo Mayer is on the brink of a call up to the big leagues. 

Greenville Drive (High-A): 3-4 (12-15 overall)

It was quite the back and forth series for the Drive as they took on Asheville Tourists, the Houston Astros High-A affiliate. The Drive came up short in one-run games twice as they were also shutout once, but also managed to win the series finale 16-0. In between all of that was an extra-inning slugfest that resulted in a 15-13 win for the Tourists on Friday night. Despite the losing record on the week, only one other team in all of Minor League Baseball managed to score more runs than the Drive (48). The pitching held its own considering how much the offense provided, but they just couldn't quite hold it together late in games. 

Franklin Arias, Red Sox fourth overall ranked prospect, made his High-A debut after being called up to Greenville and didn't disappoint. The 19 year old shortstop hit two home runs on his way to an .867 OPS. On the pitching side, Payton Tolle had arguably the most dominant start for a Red Sox prospect this week as he delivered five scoreless innings on Sunday while striking out twelve and allowing just three baserunners. 

Featured Prospect: Nazzan Zanetello

Following a rough start to his professional career, Nazzan Zanetello is starting to look as advertised after a very impressive offensive performance for the Drive. Zanetello was the Red Sox's second-round pick in the 2023 draft, but struggled in both his introduction to pro ball in 2023 as well as his first full season in Salem last year. However, Zanetello was given the chance to open 2025 in High-A and has cashed in thus far. He hit his first two home runs of the season this week while leading the team in OPS at 1.065. 

Salem Red Sox (Low-A): 4-1 (12-14 overall)

It was a rough month of April for the Salem Red Sox, however, they managed to take home a series win this week on a four-game win streak. They took on the Fredricksburg Nationals, the Washington Nationals Low-A affiliate, whom they lost five of six to earlier in April. They faced off in Salem this time and the Red Sox had quite the turnaround. They fell by a score of 9-5 in the first game but went on to win 4-2 in the next one which was followed by a pair of one-run wins, and then a 9-6 win to close out the series. 

It was a well balanced performance between the offense and the pitching staff that earned Salem the series victory. The offense posted a .713 OPS on the week while the pitching staff logged a 3.52 ERA. The bats were highlighted by key performances from Andrew Musett, Antonio Anderson, and Yoeilin Cespedes, all of whom had an OPS north of 1.000 on the week. 

Featured Prospect: Blake Aita

The best outing by a Salem pitcher on the week belonged to Blake Aita, the 21-year-old Kennesaw State product who was drafted in the sixth round just last year. It was Aita's fifth start of the season on Thursday, as he delivered six shutout innings while striking out seven and allowing just one hit. His dominant performance brings him down to a 3.28 ERA and 1.05 WHIP on the season. Aita is definitely an underrated arm in the Red Sox's farm system to keep tabs on moving forward. 

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