Boston Red Sox Minor League Pitchers of the Year: 2026

[Ayden Mason]

The Minor League Baseball season has been over for some time, and having digested all of the numbers (and a painful Red Sox playoff run), it's time to award the top prospects in the organization. Boston’s best pitchers in the farm system did take quite a hit in 2026; Juan Valera underwent Tommy John surgery in May, and top prospects Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon were sent to the Orioles for Adley Rutschman. Those departures gave fans some leeway to look for diamonds in the rough, though, and there are more than a few standouts worthy of placement here.

Ranking Red Sox’s Best Minor-League Pitchers of 2026

Honorable Mention: Anthony Eyanson (High-A Greenville/Double-A Portland)

Eyanson would easily have been in the #1 spot, but it is only right to rank the players who pitched the entire season for their respective organizations. The Southern California native was sensational this year, especially with Boston’s affiliates, posting a 1.32 ERA across 68 ⅓ innings with Greenville and Portland.

Along with his outstanding season, he was named the 2026 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year. The best part of Eyanson's game in college was generating swings and misses; that impressive trait carried over to the minors, where he punched out 94 batters while in the Red Sox organization.

#3: Blake Wehunt (Double-A Portland/Triple-A Worcester)

The most consistent of the bunch here, Wehunt had a major bounce-back season after a rough 2025 in Double-A. The right-hander allowed just one fewer run than last year, but this season he logged 37 more frames, ending 2026 with a 3.50 ERA and 104 strikeouts over 100.1 innings. 

The former ninth-rounder uses his gigantic 6’7” frame very well, creating a massive amount of extension, 6.8 feet off the rubber, in the 88th percentile for Triple-A pitchers. Wehunt’s specialty this season was filling up the strike zone; he might not strike out many batters, but he trusts his defense behind him to make plays. His 49.3% and 51.9% strike-zone percentages across Portland and Worcester, respectively, were the key to his success.

Drafted back in 2023, Wehunt made his organizational debut that same year, throwing only one inning. He looked solid in 2024, making 22 starts with a 3.88 ERA—however, he struggled to work deep into games, registering only a single quality start. He has made tremendous strides since then, completing five quality starts this season.

#2: Hayden Mullins (Double-A Portland/Triple-A Worcester)

Drafted in the 12th round of the 2022 draft, Mullins is a very interesting pitcher. Throughout his career, he has always generated a large number of strikeouts. His windup creates massive deception, rotating his body in a way that hides the ball behind him, then delivering the pitch with a low release point. 

The 26-year-old southpaw struggled immensely in June and July before getting extremely hot in the final two months. Through his six starts in August and September, Mullins pitched at least five innings five times, struck out at least eight batters four times, and gave up just one earned run or fewer each time out. That's straight dominance and a perfect way to build momentum ahead of the offseason.

Similar to 2025, Mullins struck out batters at an elite rate this season; his 135 strikeouts ranked fifth in the Eastern League. Naturally, a 12.70 K/9 and 33% strikeout rate were both career highs for the lefty.

#1: Dylan Brown (Low-A Salem/High-A Greenville)

In his first professional season in Boston’s organization, Brown undoubtedly sealed the Red Sox MiLB Pitcher of the Year award. The Old Dominion product led all of the org's minor-league affiliates with 143 strikeouts through 106.2 innings. As a 6’5” left-hander, Brown is not known for lighting up radar guns, averaging just 92 MPH with his fastball, but a blend of deception and command is his bread and butter. 

Brown’s mechanics are a bit generic, however, his arm slot and the spot on the mound where his plant foot lands make it hard for batters to read the ball out of his hand. His metrics show he has been elite in every category except for contact allowed inside the zone, but that does not matter as long as batters punch out and make weak contact.

The 2025 eighth-round pick had some ups and downs, but he dominated overall, posting a 3.46 ERA over 106.2 innings and an extremely impressive 3.86 K/BB ratio. Dylan looks to carry this exceptional season into 2027, where he could emerge as the next in a long line of top Red Sox pitching prospects.

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