Article: Breaking Down the Red Sox's Arizona Fall League Prospects

[Nick John]

As the minor league baseball begins to wrap up, the Boston Red Sox have begun preparations for the continued development of their prospects. On September 10, the team announced the list of prospects that would play in the Arizona Fall League this offseason. The list this season is comprised of eight players—five pitchers and three position players.

The players heading to Arizona this offseason includes pitchers Luis Perales, Brandon Neely, Jojo Ingrassia, Issac Stebens and Jonathan Brand. On the position player side, Boston is sending catcher Johanfran Garcia, outfielder Nelly Taylor Jr. and utility man Stanley Tucker.

The AFL is an offseason league ran by MLB in the autumn, starting this year on October 6 and finishing with the championship on November 15. The AFL is comprised of six teams made up of the top prospects in minor league baseball. Player eligibility has changed over the years, but as of 2021, all players within an organization can take part in it. Players from the Red Sox will play for the Mesa Solar Sox and will play with others from the Chicago Cubs, Athletics, Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays.

Last season, the Red Sox sent five pitchers and three fielders, just like they are in 2025. Most players in that group were either injured and missed a good portion of 2024 or were undrafted free agents. The lone exception was Zach Fogell, who was drafted in 2023 and tossed 62 1/3 innings in 2024.

This season, the Red Sox are following a similar ideology when it comes to their players. Of the eight selected to take part in the AFL, five either missed the entire season or a significant amount of time.

Tucker and Neely both missed the entire season, while Perales and Ingrassia have pitched in three and four games, respectively. Garcia played the most out of the group that missed time, appearing in 58 games split between the Florida Complex League and Greenville as he returned from a knee injury that cost him nearly all of 2024.

Now, let's take a look at each player who will be representing the Red Sox in Arizona.

P Luis Perales (Red Sox 9th ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline)

Signed as an international free agent in July 2019, Perales was the top Red Sox pitching prospect in 2024, when he looked like he would be a contributor to the 2025 Red Sox before needing Tommy John surgery. The highly talented pitcher has struggled to remain healthy, and since 2021, has only pitched more than 15 games once (in 2023 where he made 21 starts for Salem and Greenville). A former Top 100 prospect, Perales has made two appearances near the end of this season between Portland and Worcester, and has a chance to leap right back onto the radar with a strong AFL performance.

P Jonathan Brand

Drafted in the eighth round of the 2022 Draft, Brand reached Double-A in 2024 where he appeared in 28 games and threw 44 1/3 innings after opening the year in Greenville. It was much of the same in 2025 for Brand, who saw his season split mostly between Greenville and Portland (along with a lone appearance in Worcester on April 27). After a season that saw him toss 51 1/3 innings and strike out 59 batters with a 3.16 ERA, the AFL could be the perfect place for the team to get a better idea of Brand and if he is more than an organizational depth reliever.

P Jojo Ingrassia

Ingrassia was drafted in the 14th round of the 2023 Draft after playing his junior year with the Cal State Fullerton Titans, where he had 51 strikeouts in 44 2/3 innings pitched. A left-hander, Ingrassia spent 2024 with Salem where he made 21 appearances, 12 of them starts, and pitched to a 1.85 ERA in 58 1/3 innings. Even more impressive were the 93 strikeouts to 20 walks. 2025 saw the promising lefty open the year with Greenville, where he would toss 17 innings across four games before getting hurt. He last pitched on April 25, tossing four innings of two-hit ball while allowing two runs. The AFL will present a good opportunity for him to get more reps before an important offseason of recovery and prep work.

P Brandon Neely

Neely was drafted in the third round of the 2024 Draft and has yet to pitch in the minor leagues. He opened the season on the 60-Day injured list die to forearm tightness and never got into a single game. Instead, his pro debut will occur in the AFL. His most notable traits are his low release point to go along with a fastball that showed bat-missing ability in college.

P Issac Stebens

Stebens pitched for Oklahoma State University prior to be drafted in the 16th round of the 2023 Draft. In his lone season at OSU, Stebens threw 64 1/3 innings out of the pen and struck out 85 batters. Since being drafted, Stebens has continued to pitch out of the bullpen, where he was dominant for Greenville in 2025. Appearing in 38 games, Stebens pitched to the tune of a 2.15 ERA in 50 1/3 innings. In that same span, he struck out 59 batters and saved nine games.

C Johanfran Garcia (Red Sox 27th ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline)

Garcia is the younger brother of Red Sox top prospect Jhostynxon Garcia, and prior to 2024 ,was viewed as the better of the brothers offensively. While the elder Garcia broke out in 2024, the younger brother wasn’t as fortunate. Tearing his knee just 14 games into the season, Garcia missed nearly all of 2024 and a good portion of 2025 as he recovered from the surgery. In 2025, the younger Garcia played in 58 games between the Florida Complex League and Greenville. However, Garcia had a strong August, hitting .269/.306/.493 with five home runs and 13 RBIs. Just 20 years old, there’s plenty of time for Garcia to develop into the offensive catcher he was envisioned as.

OF Nelly Taylor Jr. (Red Sox 17th ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline)

Taylor was an 11th-round pick in the 2023 Draft out of Polk State after choosing to play baseball over basketball in college. In 2023, he led his college team in most offensive categories while also being named the Sun Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year. With the Red Sox, he’s been known for his work on that side of the ball, as he won the organization’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2024 and was set to play in the 2025 Spring Breakout Game, though he did not take part due to a hamstring injury. Taylor had an up-and-down season offensively in 2025, as he slashed .187/.341/.302 with 13 doubles, a triple, two home runs, 16 RBIs and 71 strikeouts in his final 53 games.

INF/OF Stanley Tucker

Tucker was drafted in the 19th round of the 2023 Draft and has only played in 89 games since then due to a torn labrum near the end of the 2024 minor league season. In March 2025, he dislocated a bone in his wrist after running into the outfield wall and did not play in a game in the 2025 season. His performance in the AFL will be key to keeping him on the organization's radar heading into 2026.

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Giant Brand's lone WooSox appearance? 

He was used to come in after Zack Kelly couldn't get out of a 1st inning in an April start. Brand is typically used as a guy who gets ready fast and is thrown into a game really quickly, especially early in the year and ST. The results weren't very good (5 strikes, 19 balls). He walked the bases loaded. Walked the next guy to score a run. Then gave up a 3 run 2b that was hit 403'.