2026 Prospects

[Old Red]

6 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

And they knew he wouldn't switch?

He wasn’t the GM when they hired him. He was born, and raised in NY, and he just said everyone knew. Kind of surprised Shue on the Big Jab who was interviewing him.

[mvp 78]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Arias is making a case for a promotion. 3 for 5 tonight (.864 at AAA.)

POR lost 6-4

GRE won big. Hull 2-5 w homer. Gonzales 2-4 w 4 rbi.

SAL won big. Godbout and Primera walked 3 times each! Both went 1-2. Andujar homered and Salazar. went 2-4 w BB

Personally, I'd rather see Arias have more than a week's worth of games at AAA. Especially if the Sox are currently rolling. 

[moonslav59]

Arias homered tonight. He went 3-4 (over 1.000 in AAA) Gasper homered. Holobetz went 4 scoreless (5H 0BB 2K) Woowon 10-1,

POR won big. They scored 8 in the 9th. They walked 8 times and had 13 hits.

GRE is losing 10-2 as Phillips got drilled. Ge Rod is 2-3.

SAL up 10-2. Pinto homered.

[Larry Cook]

20 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Arias homered tonight. He went 3-4 (over 1.000 in AAA) Gasper homered. Holobetz went 4 scoreless (5H 0BB 2K) Woowon 10-1,

POR won big. They scored 8 in the 9th. They walked 8 times and had 13 hits.

GRE is losing 10-2 as Phillips got drilled. Ge Rod is 2-3.

SAL up 10-2. Pinto homered.

Primera hit 3 times by pitchers last night 

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Primera hit 3 times by pitchers last night 

He's got a Bondesque .508 OBP!

10 Hrs is 184 ABs is awesome, too.

To me, he's our #2 prospect behind Arias.

[moonslav59]

Updated soxprospects.com rankings:

https://soxprospects.com/

1. Arias (on fire)

2. Gonzales (.843)

3. Primera (turning heads)

4. Godbout (back from IL)

5. Valera (our #1 pitching prospect, now)

6. Schaffner (nice pro start)

7. Delzine (2.16 ERA)

8. Owen Hull (another nice pro start)

9. Holobetz (a sign of a weakened farm)

10. Rivas (.772)

11. Wehunt (3.86)

12. Phillips (may drop, if he doesn't turn it around, soon)

13. Mataczynski (HS draftee)

14. Cespedes (in AA now)

15. Shelar (another HS draftee)

16. Soto (dropping despite higher-ranked departures)

17. Bastardo (AAA)

18. Paez (AA)

19. Rivera (AAA)

20. Gutierrez (part of Mayer trade)

21. Winnay (unranked last time!)

22. Romero (falling like a led balloon)

23. Mullins (having a bad year)

24. Gerardo Rodriquez (Catcher at A+)

25. Mason White (AA up from #38)

26. Dylan Brown (A+ pitcher)

27. Luke Heyman (Catcher at A+)

28. Monegro (hanging around)

29. Ramos (dropped a bit)

30. Silverio (17 yrs old)

31. Castro (not in my top 50)

32. Kaleb LaFavor (draftee)

33. Brito (DSL)

34. Ziehl (Hicks/Sandlin grade)

35. Brannon (no respect!)

36. Jo Garcia (no respect!)

37. I Jackson (Grissom trade)

38. Finley (A-)

39. Andujar (NR before)

40. Barrett Morgan (on IL)

Drops:

Bleis 33>43

Cason 37>41

A Guzman 43>51

[mvp 78]

This shows how weak the system is now. 

Mataczynski 13? 

Shelar 15? 

Gutierrez 20? (I believe Ian Cundall said he was 24th in the Giants system but should have been lower)

I think they are still too low on Garcia and Brannon. I know they are 1B/DH only probably, but they have a better chance at MLB than a lot of guys ahead of them. 

 

[Larry Cook]

Andujar is not ranked highly, but he has a nice swing and a bit of pop, he has a chance to develop into something! 
 

under the radar now, but he has a chance to be special. 

[moonslav59]

13 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Gutierrez 20? (I believe Ian Cundall said he was 24th in the Giants system but should have been lower)

I'm trusting Brez to think this kid is better than most think he is.

[moonslav59]

13 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

This shows how weak the system is now. 

Mataczynski 13? 

Shelar 15? 

 

I was surprised by all the draftees higher rankings.

I'd have Brannon in my top 20 and Jo Garcia close to 20-22.

Holobetz at #9 is pretty telling. It's not far off from my placement.

Bastardo, Paez & Rivera in the top 20? Geeesh.

Maybe Winnay and Brannon belong, but our farm did take a big hit.

We gotta hope this draft comes through, but we may also be surprised by how good some of our real young guys turn out:

2. Gonzales 19 and at GRE

3. Primera 19 and at SAL

5. Valera 20 GRE

6. Schaffner 21 GRE

7. Delzine 18 SAL (pitched well tonight)

10. Rivas 18 FCL

13. Mataczynski 18 FCL

14. Cespedes 20 POR (seems like he should be 23)

15. Shelar 19 FCL

16. Soto 18 FCL

24 Ge Rod 20 GRE

29 Ramos 18 FCL

30. Silverio 17 DSL

32. LaFavor 18 FCL

33. Brito 17 DSL

Plus...

Arias is just 20 and in AAA. 

4. Godbout is just 22, as is Hull, Phillips, Paez, Gutierrez and others.

[moonslav59]

Futrell at #48 might be the most under-rated of them all.

He pitched well in his POR debut, last night.

[moonslav59]

Woo stole the O from the Sox: 19 hits, 11 BBs and 19 runs! Ziehl had a nice debut start in AAA: 8 Ks, 0 BB and just 2 hits in 5.2 IP (no ERs) Romero went 6-6 w HR & 2B. KC homered. Romy had 3 hits and Rut played well in his rehab.

POR gave it back by losing 14-0.

GRE lost 8-2, while SAL won 6-2.

 

[moonslav59]

We need to have a new Prospect Ranking Poll for this site.

[moonslav59]

KC had 3 hits & BB, with NO Ks (at .728.)  Olds let up 5 runs in the 9th for the loss.

M White 3-4 w 2 dingers in POR's win.

GRE lost 15-12 despite 14 hits and 10 BBs. Ro Hern 3-4, Schaffner 2-7

 

[mvp 78]

23 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

We need to have a new Prospect Ranking Poll for this site.

I think you missed it!

[mvp 78]

Rumor is that Godbout is being promoted to AA. 

Maginnis (SS 11th round) and Coates (SS 16th round) will be added to SAL this week. All the other position players that haven't appeared yet are HS guys. 

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think you missed it!

Post draft and trades?

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Post draft and trades?

https://talksox.com/forums/topic/91289-post-deadline-prospect-vote/#comment-3097843

I think we voted last week at some point after the deadline.

[moonslav59]

Brannon hit his 19th tonight. Does he get added to the 40 to avoid Rule 5 exposure?

[mvp 78]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Brannon hit his 19th tonight. Does he get added to the 40 to avoid Rule 5 exposure?

Hitters like him aren't typically rule 5 draftees.

Also, if there is a lockout, there is no draft.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

On 8/7/2026 at 10:06 AM, mvp 78 said:

This shows how weak the system is now. 

Mataczynski 13? 

Shelar 15? 

Gutierrez 20? (I believe Ian Cundall said he was 24th in the Giants system but should have been lower)

I think they are still too low on Garcia and Brannon. I know they are 1B/DH only probably, but they have a better chance at MLB than a lot of guys ahead of them. 

 

I was thinking the same thing: evaluators haven't seen the new guys play pro yet, but have seen the pros in the system up until now...

[moonslav59]

On 8/12/2026 at 10:00 AM, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I was thinking the same thing: evaluators haven't seen the new guys play pro yet, but have seen the pros in the system up until now...

Yup.

Without the kids, Cespedes would be #10! The same guy, a few months ago, I was predicting he'd be out of the top 30. #11 would be Soto.

Now, take away the draftees and 19 and unders:

1. Arias 20

2. Valera 20

3. Holobetz 24

4. Wehunt 25

5. Phillips 22

6. Cespedes 20

7. Bastardo 24 (16th ranked)

8. Paez 22

9 Rivera 23 (just went on IL)

10. Gutierrez 22 (part of Mayer trade)

11. Winnay 23

12. Romero

13. Mullins 26

14. GeRod 20

15. Mason White 22

16. Brown

17. Heyman

18. Monegro 23

19. Castro 23

20. Ziehl

21 & 22 Brannon and Jo (Garcia) even this can't get these two into the top 20.

 

[moonslav59]

Arias has not missed a step in AAA (3-5 w HR.) He's at .947.

Campbell is 2-3 w BB and is up to .743, now.

Paez went 3.1, 2H, 1BB, 5K

Jo Garcia his his 14th in a POR loss. Mullins saw his ERA go over 5.00.

Is 21 year old Ronnie Hernandez for real? His OPS is .986 w GRE.

[moonslav59]

Have these three prospects worn out their welcome, or do they end up as career AAAA players?

.686 Castro

.686 Romero

.667 Bleis

 

Have these three prospects done well enough this season to be on the MLB roster watch in the next year or two?

.927 Brannon (19 HRs)

.823 Jo Garcia (13 HRs)

.752 Cespedes (19 HRs)

 

Just how good can these three be or become?

.849 Luke Heyman (16 HRs)

.846 Winnay (70 BB/ 83 Ks)

.763 YoRod (13 HRs)

 

Are these three sleepers?

1.006 Joskairo Ramirez (5HRs in 150 ABs at DSL)

.969 Jorge Rodriguez

.968 Ronny Hernandez (11 Hrs in 172 ABs)

 

We may need to hit on all these three guys:

1.122 Primera (FCL>SAL) 10 HRs in 200 ABs

.970 Arias (POR>WOO) 22 HRs in 342 ABs

.829 Gonzalez (GRE) 15 HRs in 338

 

Then, there is just one:

.729 Campbell (having a very nice summer and better late summer.)

 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Yup.

Without the kids, Cespedes would be #10! The same guy, a few months ago, I was predicting he'd be out of the top 30. #11 would be Soto.

Now, take away the draftees and 19 and unders:

1. Arias 20

2. Valera 20

3. Holobetz 24

4. Wehunt 25

5. Phillips 22

6. Cespedes 20

7. Bastardo 24 (16th ranked)

8. Paez 22

9 Rivera 23 (just went on IL)

10. Gutierrez 22 (part of Mayer trade)

11. Winnay 23

12. Romero

13. Mullins 26

14. GeRod 20

15. Mason White 22

16. Brown

17. Heyman

18. Monegro 23

19. Castro 23

20. Ziehl

21 & 22 Brannon and Jo (Garcia) even this can't get these two into the top 20.

 

Seven pitchers in the Top 9 -- trade some more! There's only one ball!

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Seven pitchers in the Top 9 -- trade some more! There's only one ball!

8 but good point.

To me, only Valera has good trade value.

Holobetz and Wehunt might be the only 2 pitchers with the chance to pitch in next year's Sox rotation (as depth.)

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

21 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

8 but good point.

To me, only Valera has good trade value.

Holobetz and Wehunt might be the only 2 pitchers with the chance to pitch in next year's Sox rotation (as depth.)

Valera's still has a couple dozen months to come all the way back from major surgery and prove himself elite again or risk breaking Bryan Mata's record for most years in Sox Prospects Top 10. He is still young enough to do either.

Holobetz is ready to get big leaguers out now.

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Valera's still has a couple dozen months to come all the way back from major surgery and prove himself elite again or risk breaking Bryan Mata's record for most years in Sox Prospects Top 10. He is still young enough to do either.

Holobetz is ready to get big leaguers out now.

Holobetz has been streaky. At times he looks MLB ready, while others not so good.