Boston Red Sox Minor League Hitter of the Month - May 2025

The Boston Red Sox have found a star in the making with Franklin Arias, as the young infielder has been on a tear at the plate this season. And after a hot April, it was hard to expect even more from him yet in May Arias performed even better than expected.

At 19 years old Arias is nearly three years younger than the average age in the South Atlantic League where Greenville plays, yet he might be one of the best players in the league. Arias was promoted to Greenville on April 29th after 19 games with Salem that saw him slash .346/.407/.397 with nine RBI, six walks and 12 strikeouts. That is impressive for a 19-year-old to do. Upon being promoted to Greenville he only played better which is why he’s TalkSox’s minor league hitter of the month for May.

In 23 games in May, Arias has managed to hit .404/.438/.576 in 99 at-bats. To go along with it, Arias has demonstrated more in-game power in May as he’s hit nine doubles, a triple and two home runs in this span. In Salem he only had four doubles when it came to extra base hits. The young infielder has also driven in more runs with 19 RBI so far and scored 14 times. Though what may be more impressive is that despite playing against older competition, Arias has managed to cut back on his strikeouts, having only done so seven times in the month of May.

Arias’ improvement at the plate has been shown throughout the season, lowering his strikeout rate from 14% in Salem down to 7.9% during the month of May with Greenville. The young infielder has a habit of hitting the ball on the ground, as half of all his batted balls are ground balls with his line drive rate sitting at 23.4% and a flyball rate of 26.6% with Greenville.

When swinging, Arias does not miss often, having a contact rate of 92% during his month with Greenville, managing to put the ball in play often. And to go with his high contact rate is an approach that includes hitting to all fields. Arias doesn’t rely too much on pulling the ball, managing to do so at a 38.8% rate while going to the opposite field at a 34.7% rate. He tends to go back up the middle only 26.5% of the time, however.

To showcase just how dominant Arias has been at the plate, the young infielder appeared in 23 games in May and has only failed to register a hit in three of those games and still got on base twice in one of them. Across the month he has led the South Atlantic League in hits with 40 along with being tied for the lead in doubles and tied for third in RBI. Likewise, his seven strikeouts ranks him as first for least strikeouts out of players who have played at least 15 games this month.

Arias’ continued transformation at the plate will only allow his ceiling to grow as the prospect will be knocking at Portland’s door soon especially if this level of play continues. The Red Sox found a special player when they originally signed him for his defensive capabilities. The play from him this month alone showcased that as he took his play to a whole new level. Now it’s up to Arias to take the foundation he built and run with it.