Is Anthony Seigler the Red Sox Version of Luis Arraez?

Second baseman Anthony Seigler has been a spark plug for an otherwise dormant Red Sox offense. Is it just a hot stretch for the former first-rounder, or is there surprising staying power here that might help salvage a trade many Sox fans would like to forget? 

Seigler was acquired by the Red Sox in the infamous Kyle Harrison for Caleb Durbin trade, and he was never considered a player who could meaningfully contribute to the Red Sox in 2026. 

His road to the majors has been anything but easy. Seigler was originally drafted 23rd overall by the New York Yankees in 2018 and spent six years in their farm system, peaking at Double-A Somerset before becoming a minor league free agent and signing with the Brewers in 2025. Milwaukee assigned him to Triple-A Nashville, and he seized the opportunity, hitting .285 with an .892 OPS, eight home runs, and 23 steals in just 72 games. That earned him a July 1 call-up, but he struggled over 34 games, batting primarily in the bottom half of the order and slashing .194/..292/.210

It made sense for the Brewers to get what they could for Seigler this offseason. He was buried in their system behind a plethora of prospect talent, with platinum glove award winner in Brice Turang manning his primary position at the major league level. So, he was shipped out along with Caleb Durbin and a competitive balance round B pick. Seigler didn't even get in spring training with the Red Sox, He landed on the 10-day IL in March and opened the season with patellar tendinopathy in his left knee. Once he returned from the IL, Seigler came out of the gates slow for Triple-A Worcester, hitting .222 with no home runs in April. But then he caught fire in May and hasn't looked back.

The 27-year-old hit .344 with an 1.000 OPS that month, while walking more often than he struck out (17.7% walk rate vs. 12.7% strikeout rate). In a quote taken by our own @Nick John,Worcester manager Iggy Suarez explained why he thought Seigler was so much better in May:

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"I think it's just that he's finally starting to play now. Coming back, he did not really have a spring training, so now a month in, that is really his spring training. Now he's getting into the swing of things and getting his rhythm back. ... To see him comfortable and kind of out of that spring training mode, I think having that month under his belt when he was a month behind helps a lot."

Seigler carried that momentum into Boston after his call-up in June, hitting .318/.388/.500 in his first 14 games and launching his first career home run. 

Seigler has never been a power option. His career-high exit velocity is 107.9 in 2025, But Seigler has continued to profile as an above-average bat-to-ball hitter, keeping his chase and whiffs low. Arguably the most impressive aspect of his minor league profile was his ability to limit strikeouts: He struck out just 19.2% of the time while walking 17.4% of the time. Combine that with a 91.4 average exit velocity in 2026 (in the 85th percentile in AAA), all while playing average defense, and it creates an intriguing second base option. 

One fascinating aspect of Siegler is that despite strong average exit velocity, his max and 90th-percentile exit velocities are weak. His average exit velocity in AAA, 91.4, is the same as Hunter Goodman and Ketel Marte this season. For reference, Goodman led all of the MLB in home runs in June with 13. Yet, Seigler has only one career barrel in the big leagues to go along with his lone home run.

The explanation for this is found in bat speed, launch angle sweet spot percentage, and squared-up percentage. Seigler's bat speed is slow, sitting at 68 mph, which will inherently limit exit velocities. Yet, he provides an 85th percentile average exit velocity because he finds the ideal launch angle, so when he does connect, he maximizes the potential exit velocity he could generate based on his swing speed and pitch velocity, as defined by Baseball Savant.

But Seigler's average launch angle is relatively low, only 8.6 degrees, only 0.6 degrees above the requirement to be in the launch angle "sweet spot" according to Baseball Savant. In fact, Statcast defines any ball put in play with less than 10 degrees of launch angle to be a groundball. That led me to believe his success this season would be explained by a high line-drive rate.

Lo and behold, I was correct! If Seigler qualified (he hasn't appeared in enough MLB games), his 25.8% line drive rate would rank sixth in the league, just behind breakout star Jac Caglianone. It's also worth noting that his groundball rate of 54.8% would rank third, just behind former teammate Garrett Mitchell. 

As you can see here, no matter the launch angle, Seigler does end up squaring up the ball. The larger circles illustrate the quantity of balls so far at each launch angle. So, he's squared up every ball in play in 2026 between the launch angles of 26 and 8, as seen in the graph above. 

That can't be expected to continue, but it's clear that Seigler knows what he does well and seeks to replicate that every at bat. He's walking a narrow line of low bat speed paired with elite quality of contact. That's hard to sustain unless your name is Luis Arraez, whose Savant page actually looks remarkably similar to Seigler's -- though Arraez has lower average exit velocities. Seigler has also ticked up his bat speed from 66.9 mph to 68 mph since joining the Red Sox. If he wants to sustain his success as a high-contact, line-drive hitter, he will likely need to lift the ball slightly more.

The former first-round pick has begun carving out a role in Boston. Assuming the Red Sox decide to sell, there will be room for Seigler in the dugout the remainder of the season, and the chance to improve what he already does well.