2026 Prospects

[moonslav59]

Perhaps calling Ziehl up over Paez could've been better...

6.2 IP 4 1ER 0BB 4K

Romy continues doing well at WOO (2-5 w dinger). Romero woke up and went 4-4. Arias 2-4 w BB

Godbout omered in POR's loss.

GRE won 13-11 as YRod homered, had two 2Bs and a BB. Schaffner homered (2-6) and others did well.

SAL scored 2 in the 10th to win 8-7. Shelar went 2-5

[moonslav59]

Some numbers from promoted players:

Arias .994 AA>> .828 AAA (Decent)

Gonzales .854 A+> .988 AA (WOW!)

Primera: 1.267 FCL>> .957 A- (Nice!)

Godbout .851 A-> .902 A+ > .779 AA (Good)

Tucker .874 A->.590 A+> 1.387 AA (SSS)

Cespedes .786 A+>.527 AA (Ummm...)

Winnay .892 A+> .804 AA (Good)

M White .886 A+> .667 AA (TBD)

Heyman .803 A-> .813 A+ (Good)

A Guzman .853 A- >.734 A+ (Okay)

Zanetello 1.305 FCL> .810 A+ (good)

M Martin 1.142 FCL> .605 A+ (TBD)

Andujar 1.214 FCL> .777 A- (TBD)

and how about Azocar?

.875 A- > .885 A+ > .986 BAL A+

 

[mvp 78]

On 8/30/2026 at 12:28 AM, moonslav59 said:

Justin Gonzales is raking at AA ball! He may jump the rankings this winter. 4 for 6 (1.260)

Jo GARCIA DID BETTER! 3-5 w 2 HRs a BB and 6 rbi. He's been impressive with the bat this year. .829 with 16 HRs. POR won 14-3.

Considering the offensive numbers in A-, A and AA, Baseball America has posited that those leagues are using juiced baseballs. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened. The pitching numbers at the low levels have been disgusting this year.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Considering the offensive numbers in A-, A and AA, Baseball America has posited that those leagues are using juiced baseballs. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened. The pitching numbers at the low levels have been disgusting this year.

Gotta agree.

The pitching at higher levels have not been eye-opening, except for the guy we traded away- Eyanson.

The OPS Against leaders of our remaining farm arms:

65+ IP

.623 Gilman (A->A+)

.625 Brown (A->A+)

.641 Mullins (AA>AAA) MLB RP'er, at best

.687 Mayers (A->A+)

.699 Wehunt (AA>AAA) Might be our best near future hope.

.699 Futrell (A->A+>AA)

Considering "juiced balls," maybe these numbers are better than they appear.

50-64 IP

.465 B Morgan A->A+

.524 Delzine FCL>A-

.571 E Walker FCL>A-

.594 Ed Rivera AA>AAA> IL

.657 Paez AA>AAA

.674 Tygart FCL>A->A+

.692 Wm Rodriguez A-

Nobody jumps out, except Delzine, who is years away from knowing more.

Valera is on the IL and might be our best bet. Phillips has not impressed. Monegro & I Coffey? Meh.

When Holobetz, Wehunt and Phillips are your 2-3-4 ranked pitchers, it's not looking too good. Lucky we have 14 decent pitchers locked up for 2+ seasons.

Bastardo (RP) Paez and Ed, Rivera are the 5-6-7 ranked farm pitchers. Then...

Mullins, Brown & Monegro

LaFavor, Ziehl & Finley

Morgan, Cason & Mayers

Montero, Futrell & B Ortiz

Jakson Gamboa, Rogers & Gilman are near 60th on soxprospects,com.

[moonslav59]

I don't see a major roster crunch, this winter, unless we add 3-5 new players without trading any 40 man guys to get them.

I think we'll add Brannon and maybe Jo Garcia and or Wehunt to protect from Rule 5, but that may be it. Some Rule 5 eligible players might eb traded or left exposed and lost.

Mikey Romero, Ronny Hernandez, Noah Song, Nate Baez, Miguel Bleis and Braiden Ward (Nathan Hickey? Nope.)

I happen to think Arias will be added to the 40, when ready for the 26 and that may be before opening day, but perhaps we wait until we place someone on the 60 Day IL.

The ETAs listed on soxprospects,com may not be that accurate, but here are some that are near MLB ready (although maybe not good enough)

2027: 1 Arias, 9 Holobetz, 10 Wehunt, 18 Ed. Rivera ('26), 21 Romero (trade?) 22 Mullins, 30 Castro (trade?) 31 Ziehl

early to mid 2028: 2 Gonzales, 4 Godbout, 13 Cespedes, 16 Bastardo, 20 Winnay, 24 M White, 27 Monegro, 34 Brannon, 35 Jo Garcia, 36 I Jackson, 47 Futrell- maybe #6 Schaffner & #8 Owen Hull or #19 C Gutierrez

[mvp 78]

16 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't see a major roster crunch, this winter, unless we add 3-5 new players without trading any 40 man guys to get them.

I think we'll add Brannon and maybe Jo Garcia and or Wehunt to protect from Rule 5, but that may be it. Some Rule 5 eligible players might eb traded or left exposed and lost.

If there is a lockout on Dec 1, there is no Rule 5 Draft. 

[moonslav59]

12 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If there is a lockout on Dec 1, there is no Rule 5 Draft. 

People seem so sure of a lock-out.

I suppose there could be one, and even if it doesn't it could effect things like the R5 draft.

No biggie.

 

 

 

[moonslav59]

Wehunt pitched well. Could he be added and promoted? Romy are 4-5, Romero 3-5 and Arias 2-5 in a game delayed and tied 3-3 in the 10th.

POR won 5-4 as Brannon (21 and .938) and Godbout (.867) homered, The Sea Dogs faced Eyanson, who did well.

Ronny Hernandez homered, and GRE is 3-3 in the 7th.

SAL lost 1-0 as Tolbert and Judice pitched well. Primera went 2-4 (.948)

 

[moonslav59]

Brez has done a lot to improve the pitching on the Sox, but right now, the farm is way out of balance with the offense having a commanding lead in promising players.

1 Arias, 2 Gonzales, 3 Primera, 4 Godbout, 6 Schaffner, 8 Hull, who may jump in the next rankings. 12 Mataczynski, 14 Shelar & 15 Soto are just getting started. Countin #13 Cespedes, there are 9 bats in the top 15.

Some of the top ranked pitchers may be over-ranked.

5 Valera could be for real but had major surgery.

7 Delzine is 18. 

9 Holobetz, 10 Wehunt, 11 Phillips and others don't impress me.

[Hugh2]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Brez has done a lot to improve the pitching on the Sox, but right now, the farm is way out of balance with the offense having a commanding lead in promising players.

1 Arias, 2 Gonzales, 3 Primera, 4 Godbout, 6 Schaffner, 8 Hull, who may jump in the next rankings. 12 Mataczynski, 14 Shelar & 15 Soto are just getting started. Countin #13 Cespedes, there are 9 bats in the top 15.

Some of the top ranked pitchers may be over-ranked.

5 Valera could be for real but had major surgery.

7 Delzine is 18. 

9 Holobetz, 10 Wehunt, 11 Phillips and others don't impress me.

I'm not as worried about the lack of pitching as I've been in years past.  In the past we didn't have pitching because we couldn't draft or develop it.  This year the team is littered with pitchers we've either developed or pitchers/hitters who are contributing that we used pitching prospects to acquire.  As long as they can keep that developmental pipeline going......they will be fine. 

Valera is interesting, because if you go by his pre injury reports you could easily see him having top prospect potential givin the quality of his stuff.  However, coming back from injury we will have zero ideal what he will look like. 

Going back to my point on the player developmental pipeline, it will be interesting to see how this system ranks next year around this time. 

[mvp 78]

3 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

I'm not as worried about the lack of pitching as I've been in years past.  In the past we didn't have pitching because we couldn't draft or develop it.  This year the team is littered with pitchers we've either developed or pitchers/hitters who are contributing that we used pitching prospects to acquire.  As long as they can keep that developmental pipeline going......they will be fine. 

Valera is interesting, because if you go by his pre injury reports you could easily see him having top prospect potential givin the quality of his stuff.  However, coming back from injury we will have zero ideal what he will look like. 

Going back to my point on the player developmental pipeline, it will be interesting to see how this system ranks next year around this time. 

In my head, I'm swapping Valera with Delzine and Valera is now taking the Luis Perales role (oft injured phenom who will run out of time).

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

I'm not as worried about the lack of pitching as I've been in years past.  In the past we didn't have pitching because we couldn't draft or develop it.  This year the team is littered with pitchers we've either developed or pitchers/hitters who are contributing that we used pitching prospects to acquire.  As long as they can keep that developmental pipeline going......they will be fine. 

Valera is interesting, because if you go by his pre injury reports you could easily see him having top prospect potential givin the quality of his stuff.  However, coming back from injury we will have zero ideal what he will look like. 

Going back to my point on the player developmental pipeline, it will be interesting to see how this system ranks next year around this time. 

Great points 

One reason I'm not overly concerned is the years of control we have for our very best pitchers, especially starters.

Only Gray, Chapman and to a lesser extent Houck, Sandoval, Guerrero & Oviedo need to be replaced after this year or next.

2 yrs: Whitlock & Crawford

3 yrs: Slaten, Weissert, Kelly & Moran

5 yrs: Crochet, Suarez, Tolle & Bennett (THIS IS AWESOME!) Does anybody else have 4 SP'ers like this locked up for 5 years?

(Valera, Wehunt, Paez, Holobetz, Delzine and others.)

 

[Hugh2]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

In my head, I'm swapping Valera with Delzine and Valera is now taking the Luis Perales role (oft injured phenom who will run out of time).

I think it's completely unfair to compare Valera to Perales, because they're two completley different people but I have to be honest with you, I made the same exact comparison in my head. 

Valera doesn't have a history of injury, but he's also young and inured.  So is this the beginning? or what.  That's the problem with guys this young, the bar of what he may or may not be is still very wide. 

[Hugh2]

19 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Great points 

One reason I'm not overly concerned is the years of control we have for our very best pitchers, especially starters.

Only Gray, Chapman and to a lesser extent Houck, Sandoval, Guerrero & Oviedo need to be replaced after this year or next.

2 yrs: Whitlock & Crawford

3 yrs: Slaten, Weissert, Kelly & Moran

5 yrs: Crochet, Suarez, Tolle & Bennett (THIS IS AWESOME!) Does anybody else have 4 SP'ers like this locked up for 5 years?

(Valera, Wehunt, Paez, Holobetz, Delzine and others.)

 

Do we resign Gray? I would have said no before this year.  I certainly wouldn't want to go long term but if he's open to two years I don't know why we shouldn't at least entertain it.  If Crochet comes back strong the rotation looks very good for the next couple of years. 

[moonslav59]

6 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

Do we resign Gray? I would have said no before this year.  I certainly wouldn't want to go long term but if he's open to two years I don't know why we shouldn't at least entertain it.  If Crochet comes back strong the rotation looks very good for the next couple of years. 

I'd be okay with bringing Gray back, assuming he stays healthy to end the year.

I'm not sure whatever options there might be, but I'm not sure we have the trade capital to get the next Gray.

Another Oviedo maybe.

[moonslav59]

Holobetz threw his hat into the ring with a nice game, tonight.

6IP 3H 0ER 3BB 4K

Arias 4-6 (.860) Hickey 3-4 w HR, Cheng 3-5, Ward 2-6 w HR in 10-0 win. Woo won the delayed game, too- thanks to a 3 run R by Capra in the 10th.

[moonslav59]

Godbout went 3-4 in POR's loss. e's up to .899.

Shaffner is over .800 with GRE after going 2-4. GRE is tied 2-2 late. Hull is 1-4 (.964)

SAL won 11-4 as Salazar is red hot. 4-4 (.871)

[moonslav59]

Kleyver Salazar is the younger brother of ex-Sox prospect Johnfrank. He's been on fire since mid-June. Beyond the 33 BB v 34 Ks in those 47 ames, he's hit .347. (1.024 OPS)

KS jumped into soxprospects newly updated top 60 prospect list at #50.

Speaking of those rankings, Arias, Gonzales, Primera, Valera & odbout remain the top 5. Some movement below:

6 Delzine, 7 Hull, 8 Schaffner, 9 Holobetz, 10 Cespedes (#9 and 10 are signs the farm depth has fallen off.)

11 Mataczynski & 12 Shelar mark 4 draftees in the top 12- another sign of farm depth decline.

13 Wehunt, 15 Phillips, 16 Paez, 18 Bastardo & 20 Brown are the farm's 4-5-6-7-8 highest ranked pitchers--- EEEK!

I'm kinda high on 14 Carlos Gutierrez (recent trade add) and 19 Winnay, but #17 Soto is just 18.

22 Romero is falling like Castro & Bleis before him did.

21 Ziehl may jump the pitcher rankings by season's end.

23 Mullins, 24 Monegro & 25 Rivera have little hope of significant impact careers.

I'm probably higher than most on some catcher prospects: 26 GRod, 28 Heyman, 37 Jo Garcia, 52 A Guzman & 54 JRod, but maybe Salazar passes them all.

Mason White at #27 deserves some mention, but he still has a lot to prove at age 22 w POR. I Jackson (from Grissom trade) could surprise and LaFavor round out the top 30

soxprospects.com show little love for Jo Garcia and Brooks Brannon, and I understand why, but I'm a freak for stats, and they look like they have more hope than these rankings suggest.

Johanfran Garcia is just 21 and missed time with injury. He probably will not stick at Catcher, and that's a shame, but if he can improve enough on defense to be a capable #2 Catcher/DH or 1B type, maybe he gets a look-see, someday. He K's too much (94 in 75 games this year and 68 in 58 games in 2025. Like Brannon, he as power. 30 HRs in the past 2 years, but unlike Brannon, he as only 17 2B in that same 511 AB period.

Brooks Brannon is 22 and also will not likely see time as a Catcher in MLB. He too is the dreaded DH/1B type like a million other wanna-bees. He K's a lot. 108 Ks in 87 games, this year. (117/93 last year) He does have 21 HRs and 49 XBHs in just 325 ABs, so there in lies his best hope- POWER. That's an XBH every 6.5 AB!

Maybe I spent too much time on these two, but both are still young enough to improve on their weak areas. (Defense & Ks.)

Beyond the 30th rankings are some longshots- most hardly worth mentioning, but here are a few I see as having promise:

B Moram 44>35

 Ramos 17>31

Andujar NR>36

Futrell NR>45

J Ramirez NR>46

Berny Ortiz NR>48, Wm Montero NR>49 & Jakson Gamboa NR>55

YRod remains in the top 60 at #59. (Priester trade with Holobetz)

[moonslav59]

Sox Graduating Prospects:

2026: Tolle, Bennett, Samaniego (Early)

2025: Anthony & Campbell

2024: Abreu, Rafaela, Slaten & Sogard

2023: Casas & Kelly

2022: Bello, Duran, Crawford & Wong

2021: Houck & Whitlock

Imagine the Sox prospect list if these players did not graduate or be traded in the last 2 years;

1. Anthony

2. Tolle

3. Arias

4. Early

5. Bennett

6. Teel

7. Eyanson

8. Meidroth

9. Harrison

10. Drohan

11. Montgomery

12. Witherspoon

13. Campbell

14. Azocar

15. Gonzales

16. Primera

17. Dobbins

18. Perales

19. Clarke

20. Tibbs/Godbout

[moonslav59]

The Sox farm went 4-0 tonight.

WOO won 4-2 as KC went 3-4 w an HR. Seigler had 2 hits, including a triple.

POR won 6-4 as Rosario hit his 13th. McDonough went 3-4

GRE won 5-1 as Morgan pitched 4 scoreless (1H, 2BB, 3K) Hernandez 303 (.955) and Hull 2-4 (.956.)

SAL won 6-5 as Delzine pitched 4 scoreless (4H, 0BB, 6K) Primera homered (.968) and Guzman, too (.882)

[moonslav59]

The farm went 1-3 on Sunday.

Woo got the win as Arias, Romy and Campbell all had 3 hits. Romy at .900, Arias at .880 & Campbell up to .768 after a poor start to 2026.) Ziehl pitched well through 5 IP (1ER, 3H, 1BB, 2Ks) Bastardo got rocked. Samaniego got the loss.

POR won 9-7. Godbout had 3 hits (.956) and McDonough stayed hot going 2-5 with 3 rbi. Both homered.

GRE lost 4-3 but Finley pitched well (4.2 IP, 1H, 0ER, 3BB, 7K) Schaffner 2-5 w 2B. Hull 1-2 w BB & HBP.

SAL lost 10-7 as B Ortiz kinda sucked. Montero did suck (7 hist and 4ERs in 1 IP) Judice walked 5 in 1 IP. Salazar and Coats had 3 hits each. Primera 1-4 w BB

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

As I mentioned previously, BA believes that the MiLB ball (used at levels AA and below) is running extra hot this year. The HR rate is way above current trends. In the Eastern League, the #1 team had 130 HR's last year, all but one team has 130 HR's so far this season. Somerset has 185. Portland went from 95 to 179! It's similar in the South Atlantic Leage too. Greenville went from 83 to 195!!!

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

Jackson was the player acquired in the Vaughn Grissom trade. 

[moonslav59]

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

As I mentioned previously, BA believes that the MiLB ball (used at levels AA and below) is running extra hot this year. The HR rate is way above current trends. In the Eastern League, the #1 team had 130 HR's last year, all but one team has 130 HR's so far this season. Somerset has 185. Portland went from 95 to 179! It's similar in the South Atlantic Leage too. Greenville went from 83 to 195!!!

Good to know.

Hard to know how good anyone is with a "live ball." Pitcher and batters.

[moonslav59]

GRE OPS (100+ PAs)

.967 Hull

.955 Ro. Hernandez (15 HRs in just 230 ABs)

.902 Godbout

.892 Winnay (11 HRs in 188 ABs)

.886 Ma White (14 HRs in 244 ABs)

.885 Azocar (traded)

.854 Gonzales (17 HRs)

(.839 A Guzman SAL+GRE) 12 HRs in 251 ABs

.826 Anderson

.805 I Jackson 21 HRs (just promoted)

.799 Heyman (14 HRs in 240 ABs) .802 SAL+GRE

.799 Zanetello

.797 Schaffner

.786 Cespedes (18 HRs)

.780 Y Rodriguez (16 HRs)

.695 Ge Rodriguez

 

[moonslav59]

POR won 8-6 as 4 batters ad ood nights and seasons:

Godbout 2-4 (.971) 2 2B

Brannon 1-4 (.931) w 2B

Jo Garcia 2-4 (.847) 2 two 2Bs

Gonzales 2-3 (.839) w BB

(Turner his his 16th and Rosario his 14th.)

Houck pitched 0.2 (2BB 0K oH 1ER)

 

[mvp 78]

A Red Sox hitter that can hit the ball hard, but not straight into the ground? That's possible? 

[moonslav59]

Godbout went 2-5 with a 2B tonight (.973.)

Rosario omered aain. I think that's 4 in the last 6 games. Brannon hit his 21st. I believe he leads the farm in XBHs, but 114 Ks in 91 games worries some of us. Contreras played (2-4.) Houck K'd 4 in 3IP (1H, 1BB, 1 ER)

Holobetz pitched well in POR's 4-1 loss.