Much like a group you may have heard about from Liverpool, the Red Sox have a quartet of young, talented lads who are breaking through a top 100 chart in the middle of the decade. Maybe that’s a stretch, I dunno, but I’m happy that we do have a Fab Four to call our own.
On Friday, MLB Pipeline released their updated rankings of the top 100 prospects in baseball. While it’s certainly not the be-all-end-all of prospect evaluation, Pipeline’s latest list gives us an opportunity to take stock in what we have at the top of our farm system.
The answer to that question: a trio of talented pitchers and a middle infielder. Left-handers Payton Tolle (number 19 in the league wide Top 100, according to Pipeline) and Connelly Early (number 56) are joined by 2025 first-round draft pick Kyson Witherspoon (number 84) on the bump, while shortstop Franklin Arias (number 31) represents the sole position player within the organization who currently makes the grade (another reference to that Liverpudlian band for ya).
Does that crop of players represent the most talent, on paper and in the eyes of Pipeline’s evaluators, across the sport? No, but there’s some legit juice among our representatives.
We’ve already seen glimpses of the potential that both Tolle and Early have from the left side; the former has a dynamite heater, while the latter has already displayed an ability to step into a massive role and provide his club with a chance to win a do-or-die game (they died, lmao, sure, but I’d hardly pin the majority of the blame on Early for how Game 3 in New York went down a few months ago). Witherspoon projects to be a guy who can deploy swing-and-miss stuff via multiple pitches, especially if he can develop his command. There’s a very real chance that Arias is up in Boston before we know it, possibly serving as a long-term solution on the infield dirt with his steady glove and ability to get lumber on the ball (Pipeline grades his hit tool as a 60 on the 20-80 scale; in plain English, that’s quite good).
This next wave, mixed with the group of guys who were on Pipeline lists of past and have already graduated from the minor league system, could very well be exciting! Of course, no prospect is a sure thing—although I’m still holding out hope for a Lars Anderson renaissance—but one can hope that this is a sign of continued progress within the Sox’s player development system. Craig Breslow has stressed his desire to build a sustainable winner, one that is primed to compete in both the short-term and for the long haul. Your opinion on that philosophy along with how the front office has actually done in carrying out that vision may vary, but if that master plan were to eventually bare fruit, it could look a little something like what we’re currently seeing: another hoard of players on the precipice of contributing to the major league club within the next 12 to 18 months or so.
Even with that in mind, I’m curious: does a continued faith in Boston’s player development open the door, perhaps, to some trades for veterans that can round out the roster—be it this winter, next summer, or in future offseasons (even if we might not have the patience for that)?
There are young position players already primed to play major roles in 2026, while you can point to plenty of young arms that can make an impact before their arbitration years are up. There’s an embarrassment of riches within the organization’s pitching depth—could that be leveraged in the future, especially if Breslow and Co. trust their own models and methods to develop pitching? Early was a fifth round draft pick a few years ago, and I can confidently assume that he wasn’t on many folks’ radars at this time last year (I can only speak with certainty for myself; if you had the Early emergence on your 2025 bingo card, hats off to ya), and he’s now been thrown around in trade ideas for multi-time All-Star players. Does the organization have faith in themselves to produce more Connelly Early-types?
Regardless of future transactions, the strides being made in the minors gives me some hope. There’s more work to be done—Tolle needs to work on his secondary pitches, Early has to be stretched out for longer outings, etc.—but the Red Sox aren’t in a bad spot right now. If they flip some of this prospect capital for a win-now type of player in the future, sure. If they keep them and they turn out to be big league contributors, sure. Either outcome would be a huge win for the work being done on the farm.
Now stop procrastinating and go shovel that snow, dear reader.
