Red Sox Farm System Overview: 3 Stars and 3 Busts Through Mid-April

[Nick John]

Each of the Boston Red Sox's affiliates have officially played at least a full series now, with Portland having played the least number of games at eight as of the beginning of this week. While Boston has been playing inconsistently, the four minor-league affiliates have allowed fans a chance to enjoy winning baseball while providing a window into the future.

With that said, we’re going to look into three of the best players across the organization since the start of the minor-league season, and three players who have been playing less than optimally.

Red Sox's Farm System Standouts

Anthony Eyanson, Pitcher (7 1/3 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 13 strikeouts)

To say Eyanson is one of the best prospects in the system two weeks into his professional career may not be an understatement. Drafted in the third round of the 2025 draft, the young right-hander is shaping up to be a steal for the Red Sox. Besides his great stat line from his first two starts, Eyanson is also coming off of a perfect outing. In his latest appearance, the pitcher threw 4 1/3 innings without allowing a runner to reach base while striking out seven batters.

While it’s only a matter of time before he surrenders his first walk, Eyanson is currently sitting on a phenomenal strikeout rate of 52% rate without any free passes under his belt. Likewise, batters are only making contact on 53.1% of his pitches while whiffing on roughly 22% of his pitches. If a batter does manage to make contact, they’ve mostly been hitting them into the ground, as seven of the 12 balls put into play have turned into ground balls. The lone fly ball surrendered by Eyanson did turn into a home run, however.

While Eyanson is being slowly built up as a pitcher, he’s showing just how dominant he truly can be while holding opposing batters to a .120 batting average. If he continues to pitch like this, it’s only a matter of time until he’s promoted to Portland.

Franklin Arias, Shortstop (.588/.636/.706, 2 doubles, 5 RBIs)

Arias truly broke onto the scene as a top prospect last season when he hit a combined .278/.335/.388 between Salem, Greenville and Portland. This season, he’s started off even hotter through his first six games. Despite being just 20 years old, the shortstop is not being intimidated by the more advanced pitching in Double-A.

Arias is flexing a well-rounded plate approach, walking at a 9.1% rate that matches his strikeout rate. He's a dangerous weapon for any offense looking to put pressure on the defense. When he's putting the ball in play, he’s begun the year hitting it less on the ground. With a ground ball rate of 31.3%, that’s equal to the number of baseballs he’s hitting as fly balls. It’s his line drive percentage that has improved to 37.5%. The change in approach and launch angle could help Arias hit for extra bases despite his lack of over-the-fence power.

Though one thing to be weary of is his pull-heavy approach early on. Arias is currently pulling balls to the left side of the field at a career-high 62.5% rate. Whether this is a change in approach or just how opposing teams are pitching him is currently unknown but should be watched as the season continues.

Tsung-Che Cheng, Infielder (.316/.447/.711, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, 6 RBIs)

Cheng has surprised many this season with his play on both sides of the ball. Defensively, he’s always been a solid defender between second base, shortstop and third base and that has continued with Worcester as he’s split time at the former two. In 11 games between the two positions, he’s committed just one error.

It’s his offense that has been a surprise, however. The infielder wowed everyone at Polar Park on April 10 when he hit for the first cycle in WooSox history. Based on how he hit last year (.207/.305/.267), no one could have predicted this hot start to the season. Though, one thing that has helped him out is his high walk percentage. So far on the young season, he’s walking nearly 18% of the time while striking out in just under 21% of his at-bats.

His numbers have stayed roughly in line with his career for ground ball to fly balls with the young infielder putting the ball on the ground 42.9% of the time, a small drop from his 52.9% rate in 2025. He’s also used the entire field as he’s pulled the ball 32.1% of the time while going the other way on 39.3% of his batted balls. This is the kind of profile that will succeed in the big leagues, so more of the same from Cheng would go a long way toward helping his prospect stock.

Red Sox's Farm System Disappointments

Jorge Juan, Pitcher (1 2/3 innings, 1 hit, 5 runs, 5 walks, 1 strikeout)

Juan is an interesting player who joined Portland after the 2025 season began. He made 22 appearances and wasn’t too bad (4.78 ERA in 32 innings), but he also wasn’t too impressive. Coming into 2026 he hoped to break out, but that hasn't been the case just yet.

Making two appearances, Juan struggled in his first outing as he failed to get a single out. Instead, he allowed five earned runs without allowing a hit. He also walked three batters and hit another two. It was a very ugly debut to a season for the pitcher. Fortunately, his second appearance went better, as he tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

Unfortunately, that’s been it for the right-handed reliever as he was placed on the injured list. His timetable for a return is currently unknown and by the time he comes back, there may not be room for him depending on how the roster in Greenville looks.

Antonio Anderson, Infielder (.067/.211/.067, 2 RBIs)

In what is a big year for Anderson, the former third-round pick has struggled to get going. In five games, he’s gone 1-for-15 and been leapfrogged on the team’s depth chart. After starting the two of the first three games of the season, Anderson did not play again until April 9.

Anderson is currently striking out at the same rate he walks at, a 15.8% rate. He’s shown an ability to understand the strike zone but has struggled to get base hits on the balls he puts into play (.077 BABIP). That may just be a sign of horrendous luck, but he needs to get going if he wants to continue getting playing time.

The good news is he’s been hitting the ball on a line drive more often, representing 30.8% of his batted balls compared to 23.3% in 2025. Unfortunately, it’s led to little success for Anderson. Defensively, it hasn’t gone much better as the infielder has played one game at third base and committed two errors. He’s had better success at first base, but playing time there may be hard to come by with Freili Encarnacion also on the roster.

Frederik Jimenez, Utility (.000/.294/.000, 2 RBIs)

Jimenez has had a rough start to the season. The only player in the Red Sox organization who’s played that’s yet to get a hit, Jimenez is currently 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts. The young utility player is in his age-21 season and hasn’t appeared to improve much from an offensively challenged 2025 season.

Despite a 47.1% strikeout rate, Jimenez is also walking at nearly a 30% rate, though it does little to counteract his lack of hits. Of his batted balls, none have been on the ground, with 66.7% of them being fly balls. The remaining 33.3% were line drives. He’s also had a hard time pulling ball, only doing so 25% of the time while only making contact with the baseball on 48.5% of his swings.

Defensively, he’s appeared at first base in all four games he played in. He’s been fine on that side of the ball, making 23 outs and turning three double plays while only committing one error, but his bat needs to get going lest he get quickly lost in the shuffle.

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[moonslav59]

3 more pluses:

Jason Delay 1.125

Vinny Capra 1.041

Mickey Gasper .982

3 starting out badly:

Nelly Taylor .174

Nate Yuten .276

GRod .385

___________________

Pitchers:

Devin Futrell .171 OPS Against

Jake Bennett .289 

Juan Valera .476

Bad starts:

1.141 Luis Cohen

1.008 Kyle Keller

.951 Patrick Halligan

 

[Sthpaw777]

Afternoon gentlemen,

I’ve been really high on Eyanson. Great control and command of his pitches, with 4 that he has shown he can command with consistency.. Good size and makeup. I could see him being better then the mid rotation starter he’s listed at right now. Looking forward to possibly watching him pitching in Fenway in a couple years.

[Brock Beauchamp]

8 minutes ago, Sthpaw777 said:

Afternoon gentlemen,

I’ve been really high on Eyanson. Great control and command of his pitches, with 4 that he has shown he can command with consistency.. Good size and makeup. I could see him being better then the mid rotation starter he’s listed at right now. Looking forward to possibly watching him pitching in Fenway in a couple years.

Welcome to Talk Sox!

[Sthpaw777]

8 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Welcome to Talk Sox!

Thanks! I was on the old globe forum about a decade ago. When it went down everyone scattered. A lot of names ended up here. Good to be back amongst loyal and knowledgeable Sox fans.