2026 Prospects

[moonslav59]

Bennett had a nice game for Woo: 5.1 IP 2H 1 ER 0BB 4K, while Cheng is 4 for 4 and hit for the cycle (his 3rd.)

Arias is 3 for 4, as POR won. N Baez w 3 run HR.

Witherspoon went 4 IP. (3H 1ER 0BB 6K)

[moonslav59]

The farm went 3-1, last night, and while wins on the farm is not a high priority in any MLB system, it's not a bad thing.

There is not much else to be uplifted by going on right now.

Some prospects are off to very encouraging starts, but it's early and these sample sizes are tiny.

Valera has 16 Ks in 8.1 IP and while 3BBs is not great, he's only allowed 4 hits.

Bennett has started 3 times and has a .289 OPS Against with WOO. soxprospects.com started the winter projecting him to begin the season at AA, so this is nice.

Cheng is no rookie, but he's making a AAA case to be called up: 3 HRs in 30 ABs and a 1.346 OPS. He even hit for the cycle a couple nights ago. Gasper is another non-rookie off to a nice 1.258 start.) Capra (1.089) and Delay (1.024) also help make our AAA depth look a little more promising than we thought it was in March. Thaiss is at .917, and Nate Baez is at 1.010 with POR.

Arias has looked good with a 1.303 OPS in 5 games.

Cespedes (.913) might finally be showing he was not over-hyped.

Salem has been the surprising team, so far (in just 7 games, the Ridge Yaks are 6-1.)

1.100 Skylar King, 1.075 Andrews Opata and 900's for Stanley Tucker, Ty Hodge, Anderson Fermin & K Salazar.

Top Salem pitchers: OPSA/ERA

Dylan Brown .301/0.00

Ethan Walker .517/1.29

Adam Bates .635/3.18

Devin Futrell .297/0.00

Gibel Galvan .663/6.23

Wuilliams Rodriguez .517/4.91

 

[moonslav59]

Holobetz pitched well again, today. 4IP 3H 1ER 2BB 9K. The pen pitched 5 scoreless (3 hits, 3 BBs and 4Ks) Arias remains hot, going 3 for 4. He's up to 1.342.

Kutter got drilled in his first start in over a year: 3 IP 6H 5ER 1BB 5K (3 bombs given up) The game is still in progress.

[moonslav59]

Eyanson- kapow!

4.1 IP

0 Hits

0 ER

0 BB

7 Ks

[moonslav59]

Tolle looked good, today for Woo. 5 IP 3H 0ER 1BB 6K. Castro has homered twice and has 6 RBI! (He is shutting me up.) Ward has 2 SBs (9 on the season.)

Mullins started for POR, and I still wonder when he gets promoted to Woo:

4IP 4H 1ER 2BB 7K

Vogatsky got drilled (1.1, 6, 8, 1, 1)

Baez has walked 3 times and Ehrhard has a 2 run double.

The RidgeYaks continue to impress. They are up 8-0 in the 4th. Futrell is pitching like he wants a promotion! 5IP 0H 0ER 1BB 4K. He has yet to allow a run, this season. Azocar and Opata both have 2 hits.

[moonslav59]

The Yaks had 14 hits and 8 BBs, today on their way to a 16-3 win. They are now 7-2.

On base...

2 of 5 Nunez

5/5 Azocar

4/5 Heyman

2/5 King w SF

3/5 Opata

2/5 Fermin

3/5 Tucker

1/5 Ortiz

1/5 Fernand

Team 23/45 w a SF

KAPOW!!!!

[mvp 78]

17 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Tolle looked good, today for Woo. 5 IP 3H 0ER 1BB 6K. Castro has homered twice and has 6 RBI! (He is shutting me up.) Ward has 2 SBs (9 on the season.)

Castro will have a 750 OPS near the deadline and the Sox will deal him for a reliever. He'll play in the bigs, but most likely not here. 

[moonslav59]

42 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Castro will have a 750 OPS near the deadline and the Sox will deal him for a reliever. He'll play in the bigs, but most likely not here. 

That fits the Sox M. O.

[moonslav59]

How about Devin Futrell's season line?

9 IP

1 Hit

0 ER

2 BB

10 Ks

for the RidgeYaks of Salem (A-) He's 23 and still in A- ball, but he did pitch a little for GRE (A+) last season. My guess is he gets promoted, but GRE's rotation looks pretty stacked. Maybe Valera, Witherspoon or Eyanson gets bumped up to POR.

[moonslav59]

Some interesting early farm numbers:

Seth Martinez has let up 4 hits in 11.2 IP, but 3 are HRs!

Jake Bennett has a .289 OPS Against- second only to Futrell's astonishing .171 line.

Dylan Brown has a 0.00 ERA in 8.2 IP with 14 Ks (.301 OPSA)

Arias has just 19 PAs but a 1.342 OPS.

Salem has 3 guys over 1.000 (Opata, Salazar & Tucker)

Cheng and Gasper are the other two over 1.000. They both lead the Sox farm in HRs with 3.

Ward has a .500 OBP and 9 SBs in 12 tries.

K leaders: Castro 17 and KC 16

 

[moonslav59]

RBI Leaders:

12 Gasper

11 Romero

10 Castro (6 yesterday)

9 Sogard

8 KC

 

[mvp 78]

6 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

How about Devin Futrell's season line?

9 IP

1 Hit

0 ER

2 BB

10 Ks

for the RidgeYaks of Salem (A-) He's 23 and still in A- ball, but he did pitch a little for GRE (A+) last season. My guess is he gets promoted, but GRE's rotation looks pretty stacked. Maybe Valera, Witherspoon or Eyanson gets bumped up to POR.

Futrell just got squeezed out by all the additions. He needs to just keep doing his thing. If he can keep those k numbers up, that's a good sign. 

[Larry Cook]

On 4/10/2026 at 7:51 AM, moonslav59 said:

I'm not sure Wikelman ever had a line like this.

I meant “the stuff” winkleman had amazing stuff, just no command and control!!

 

[Larry Cook]

6 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Some interesting early farm numbers:

Seth Martinez has let up 4 hits in 11.2 IP, but 3 are HRs!

Jake Bennett has a .289 OPS Against- second only to Futrell's astonishing .171 line.

Dylan Brown has a 0.00 ERA in 8.2 IP with 14 Ks (.301 OPSA)

Arias has just 19 PAs but a 1.342 OPS.

Salem has 3 guys over 1.000 (Opata, Salazar & Tucker)

Cheng and Gasper are the other two over 1.000. They both lead the Sox farm in HRs with 3.

Ward has a .500 OBP and 9 SBs in 12 tries.

K leaders: Castro 17 and KC 16

 

Can’t wait to watch brown pitch. Not sure what he is throwing, but intrigued by the results so far! 
 

Was watching winney  for a couple of days and if he ever learns to pick up the spin on balls pitched, he might be someone to pay attention to!!!!! 

[moonslav59]

16 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Futrell just got squeezed out by all the additions. He needs to just keep doing his thing. If he can keep those k numbers up, that's a good sign. 

Injuries and or promotions should give him a shot for a promotion, himself, at some point.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

I meant “the stuff” winkleman had amazing stuff, just no command and control!!

 

I agree.

[mvp 78]

On 4/13/2026 at 4:04 PM, moonslav59 said:

Injuries and or promotions should give him a shot for a promotion, himself, at some point.

Futrell just got promoted to Greenville. 😄

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Futrell just got promoted to Greenville. 😄

There we go!

Do we know who he replaces?

(McShane to IL?)

 

[moonslav59]

Many of us were goole-eyed about GRE and especially their rotation, but Salem has been the note-worthy team and rotation, so far.

Futrell- just promoted to GRE had gone 9 IP with 0 ER, just 1 hit and 2BBs allowed. He also had 10 Ks.

Dylan Brown has 14 Ks in 8.2 IP and also has yet to allow a run scored (3H and 3BB)

Finley has a 2.08 ERA and .585 OPSA.

GRE has Valera (2.16 with a .476 OPSA) ans Eyanson (1.23 & .360) as well as RP'er Gartrell at 0.00 and .392 in 6.1 IP.

POT has Holobetz at 1.00 (9IP) and .483.

Woo has Bennett at 0.68 in 13.1 IP with an amazing .289 OPSA.

[moonslav59]

The batters at Woo have looked pretty impressive, especially those who look the most like ML ready or AAAA type players:

1.157 Cheng

1.125 Delay

1.048 Capra

1.040 Gasper

.857 Thaiss

.855 Sogard

(Ward is at .790 w 9 SBs.)

POR has Arias at 1.339 (tops in the system)

GRE's leader is Cespedes at .779 and then Justin G at .760

SAL has a few off to nice starts: Salazar 1.090, Tucker 1.050, Opata 1.048, King .989 & Fermin at .861

[moonslav59]

After getting drilled in his first start, Ziehl pitched a nice game: 5 IP 4H 0ER 2BB 6K. Arias is 2 for 4 w 2BB and 4 runs scored, so far.

Godbout, White and Guzman have homered for GRE, so far.

[mvp 78]

17 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

There we go!

Do we know who he replaces?

(McShane to IL?)

 

Allmer got promoted to POR, so Futrell took his spot. 

[moonslav59]

39 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Allmer got promoted to POR, so Futrell took his spot. 

Where do you fins this info?

(and thanks.)

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

When Rafaela was in Double A some evaluators said he was already MLB Gold Glove worthy, but just needed to refine his swing decisions.

That's about where Franklin Arias was going into this season. His hands, arm and quickness rival Boston's best shortstop: Marcelo Mayer.

As for the bat, not even Ceddanne had a start like Arias, who leads the entire Eastern League in Batting Average, On Base, Slugging, and thus OPS.

Note to Breslow: please don't trade this guy for some all-or-nothing slugging whiffer in his mid-30s... because that's who Arias should be replacing soon.

[mvp 78]

29 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Where do you fins this info?

(and thanks.)

SP, on their transactions page. 

[mvp 78]

28 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

When Rafaela was in Double A some evaluators said he was already MLB Gold Glove worthy, but just needed to refine his swing decisions.

That's about where Franklin Arias was going into this season. His hands, arm and quickness rival Boston's best shortstop: Marcelo Mayer.

As for the bat, not even Ceddanne had a start like Arias, who leads the entire Eastern League in Batting Average, On Base, Slugging, and thus OPS.

Note to Breslow: please don't trade this guy for some all-or-nothing slugging whiffer in his mid-30s... because that's who Arias should be replacing soon.

It is just one hot week. Happy to have it though!

[moonslav59]

33 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It is just one hot week. Happy to have it though!

Indeed, and when his "high need" area is his bat, this is a good sign.

He got off to a pretty good start last year and stalled...

.824 first half

.623 2nd half

However, he was promoted twice and was making adjustments and facing tougher pitchers near the end of 2025.

.804 A-> .709 A+> .685 AA

The kid was in FCL to start the 2024 season, so reading too much into second half drops may not be valid.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

It is just one hot week. Happy to have it though!

ANY Red Sox player in the system who has ANY success with a bat vs. a pitch is a sign of hope in the year of our lore, 2026.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Indeed, and when his "high need" area is his bat, this is a good sign.

He got off to a pretty good start last year and stalled...

.824 first half

.623 2nd half

However, he was promoted twice and was making adjustments and facing tougher pitchers near the end of 2025.

.804 A-> .709 A+> .685 AA

The kid was in FCL to start the 2024 season, so reading too much into second half drops may not be valid.

I don't believe the promotion from AA to AAA is as big of an adjustment for hitters, so he may not see a second half flameout. 

[mvp 78]

30 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

ANY Red Sox player in the system who has ANY success with a bat vs. a pitch is a sign of hope in the year of our lore, 2026.

Just put him at #2 now and get him used to hitting there.