My beloved Red Sox have a dynamic system, and before the Garrett Crochet trade, they may have been the best in the majors. Even still, the Sox have finally restored their system four years after Dave Dombrowski depleted it. They have two top-10, possibly top-5 overall prospects and have plenty of young, interesting prospects coming, specifically in the middle infield. This time next year, I may be singing a different tune.
This article is part of a series focusing on each MLB team’s top 20 prospects for fantasy baseball heading into the 2025 season. Stay tuned for prospect breakdowns for all 30 teams throughout January here at Pitcher List, and head over to the Pitcher List dynasty page to check out the rest of the farm system rankings!
- NL East: Phillies, Mets, Marlins, Nationals
- NL Central: Cardinals, Brewers, Pirates, Cubs, Reds
- NL West: Giants, Diamondbacks, Dodgers
Top Red Sox Prospects
The Top Tier
1) Roman Anthony, OF
2024 Stats (AA, AAA): .291 AVG / .396 OBP / .498 SLG / 18 HR / 21 SB / 28.0 K% / 14.6 BB%
Anthony is the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball, with all the tools to become an All-Star caliber player. The 20-year-old was a supplemental second-round pick in 2022 and has already ascended to Triple-A to close out the 2024 season. Anthony slashed .291/.396/.498 with 18 homers and 21 steals split between Double-A and Triple-A last year. Even though his strikeout rate ticked up a bit last season, there is no doubting his legitimacy as a five-category contributor at the next level.
His best tool is his power, although Anthony is as well-rounded of a player as you could want. He is very patient at the plate (almost too much) and can work walks and get deep into counts without sacrificing contact or power. In 2024, he posted an overall contact rate of around 75%, with an in-zone rate of around 82%. In addition, his 91 mph average EV and 109 mph 90th percentile EV are outstanding for a player his age. There is little left for Anthony to do in the minors; he will likely debut no later than mid-May in the majors.
2) Kristian Campbell, 2B/SS
2024 Stats (A+, AA, AAA): .330 AVG / .439 OBP / .558 SLG / 20 HR / 24 SB / 24.0 K% / 14.3 BB%
No player had a better 2024 year in the minor leagues than Kristian Campbell. He jumped from a relatively unknown into the top 15 prospects in baseball. In his first pro season, Campbell slashed a ridiculous .330/.439/.558 with 20 homers, 32 doubles, and 24 steals while playing at three different levels. His performance garnered him Minor League Player of the Year honors from multiple news outlets and put Campbell firmly on the radar among the most elite prospects in the game.
Campbell is a big-bodied kid, standing 6’3″ and nearly 200 pounds. His most significant gains last season came with his bat, improving his contact rate and power throughout the season. In a small sample at Triple-A, Campbell had an 82% overall contact rate and 90.8% in-zone while posting a 105 mph 90th percentile EV. If he continues to hit the ball that hard without sacrificing contact, we’re looking at a player with a 30-homer upside. Even though Campbell played just 75 games above A-ball, he’s poised to become Boston’s Opening Day second baseman.
3) Marcelo Mayer, SS
2024 Stats (AA): .307 AVG / .370 OBP / .480 SLG / 8 HR / 13 SB / 22.0 K% / 9.0 BB%
Mayer was the fourth overall pick in 2021 and has long been the crown jewel of the Red Sox farm system. Unfortunately, injuries and disappointing performances have caused his stock to dip. Mayer played in just 77 games last season, hitting .307 with eight homers and 28 doubles. That was a nice bounce back after his 2023 season saw him struggle to a .236/.306/.433 slash line while battling injuries. Health is the name of the game for Mayer, and it just hasn’t been there for him, as he’s averaged just 82 games over four seasons.
When he is healthy, Mayer is a defensive stalwart and is easily the best defender in the Red Sox system. Offensively, he’s struggled to get to the power we expected, mainly due to injury. His best outcome in a healthy season looks like .280/15/90/80, which is productive and valuable but less than you’d want from an everyday SS. Ultimately, I expect Mayer to get traded out of the Red Sox organization soon, which should give him a shot at the big leagues.
4) Yoeilin Cespedes, SS
2024 Stats (ROOKIE): .319 AVG / .400 OBP / .615 SLG / 5 HR / 3 SB / 20.9 K% / 11.4 BB%
Cespedes, a Dominican-born shortstop, was the prize of the Red Sox’ 2023 International class. He carved up the DSL in 2023 and was on his way to a monster 2024 before a hamate bone injury ended his season after 25 games. Cespedes slashed .319/.400/.615 in those 25 games, with five homers and 10 doubles as an 18-year-old playing in the Complex League.
The one guarantee with Cespedes is that he will hit, and he will hit often. Cespedes has outstanding bat-to-ball skills and consistently finds the barrel. There is some question about how much power he will come into, but given his propensity to pull the ball and hit it in the air, he likely turns into a double-digit homer bat. A healthy 2025 season will vault Cespedes into a top-50 prospect.
5) Luis Perales, SP
2024 Stats (A+, AA): 33.2 IP / 56 K / 38.9 K% / 8.3 BB%
Perales is easily the most talented arm in the Red Sox’s system, but his early breakout in 2024 was halted by Tommy John surgery. In the nine starts he made before the injury, Perales had 56 punchouts to 12 walks in 33.2 innings and had already climbed to Double-A. His strikeout rate jumped significantly over the previous season, led by a 20.8% swinging strike rate and a 37.1% CSW.
Perales has a typical pitcher frame, standing 6’1″ and 165 pounds. His arsenal includes an upper-90s fastball that is a truly elite offering. It has incredible life up in the zone aided by a flat-approach angle. His secondary offerings are satisfactory, not outstanding, although his splitter has the potential to become a plus offering. Obviously, everything hinges on his recovery from TJ and how the velocity and stuff rebound. If Perales gets back into form by early 2026, he could join the Red Sox rotation late that season.
6) Franklin Arias, SS
2024 Stats (ROOKIE, A): .309 AVG / .409 OBP / .487 SLG / 9 HR / 35 SB / 20.7 K% / 13.4 BB%
If not for Campbell, Arias would have been the biggest riser among Red Sox prospects in 2024. Arias obliterated the Complex League before closing out the year at Low-A. In 87 games, he slashed .309/.409/.487 with nine homers, 25 doubles, and 35 steals while walking 50 times against 65 strikeouts. That’s an excellent domestic debut for Arias, who did all of it as an 18-year-old.
Arias is slightly undersized, standing 5’11” and 170 pounds. His best tool is actually his defense, and scouts think he could eventually be as good as Mayer defensively. With the bat, Arias makes sound swing decisions, has above-average contact skills, and has learned how to get to more power. His stolen base production was inflated by bad catching, and I wouldn’t expect more than 10-15 steals per season at his peak. It will be interesting to see how much physical development Arias will do, but he has some intriguing tools as a prospect.
7) Jhostynxon Garcia, OF
2024 Stats (A, A+, AA): .286 AVG / .356 OBP / .536 SLG / 23 HR / 17 SB / 24.0 K% / 7.2 BB%
Jhostynxon is the first of two Garcia brothers to make this list. The oldest Garcia had a massive year in 2024, busting out across three separate levels. He mashed 24 home runs, including 16 in 53 games at High-A, while batting .286 with 24 doubles and 17 steals. His stint at High-A Greenville was total domination, as Garcia had a .998 OPS, .316 ISO, and 176 wRC+.
Garcia has plenty of raw power, as he showed in 2024, and should continue to tap into that, given his fly ball rate of over 45%, and batted ball data, which shows a 106 mph 90th percentile EV. He doesn’t walk much, is pretty aggressive at the plate, and runs below-average contact rates, although his strikeout rate was around 20%. The profile has some flaws, but if Garcia can build off his breakout 2024 season, he should push to Triple-A in 2025.
Prospects Every Dynasty Manager Should Know About
8) Jedixson Paez, SP
2024 Stats (A, A+): 96.2 IP / 113 K / 29.0 K% / 3.1 BB%
Paez has been a steady arm since he debuted in 2021, but his arsenal took a big step forward in 2024 with increased fastball velocity. He already has elite command but now that the four-seamer is viable, Paez can utilize his curveball and changeup more, both of which have shown to be above-average offerings.
9) Miguel Bleis, OF
2024 Stats (A, A+): .220 AVG / .303 OBP / .354 SLG / 11 HR / 38 SB / 24.1 K% / 9.1 BB%
It seems like Bleis has been around forever since he signed as a 16-year-old in 2021. His career has been up and down due to injuries and inconsistency throughout. In 2024, Bleis struggled to a .220/.303/.354 slash line with 11 homers.
10) David Sandlin, SP
2024 Stats (A+,AA): 57.1 IP / 82 K / 33.2 K% / 7.3 BB%
Sandlin is an intriguing arm with a four-pitch mix and outstanding command. In 57.1 innings this season, Sandlin posted a K-BB rate of over 25%. The most significant downsides to Sandlin are a lengthy track record of injury and a significant home run problem (14 this season).
11) Richard Fitts, SP
2024 Stats (AAA): 116.2 IP / 111 K / 22.6 K% / 7.5 BB%
2024 Stats (MLB): 20.1 IP / 9 K / 10.6 K% / 8.2 BB%
Fitts joined the Red Sox in the Alex Verdugo trade last December and made a splash in his organizational debut. Fitts tossed 137.1 innings this season between Triple-A and the majors, pitching to a 3.80 ERA with 120 strikeouts to just 44 walks. Fitts could be in line as the fifth starter for the Red Sox entering 2025.
12) Mikey Romero, SS
2024 Stats (A+, AA): .271 AVG / .312 OBP / .509 SLG / 16 HR / 1 SB / 25.0 K% / 5.0 BB%
Romero was the team’s first-round pick in 2022. After an injury-plagued 2023, he bounced back with a strong 2024. Romero batted .271 with 16 homers and 24 doubles, playing mainly at Double-A. Now that Romero is healthy, hopefully, he can sustain his momentum in 2025.
13) Hunter Dobbins, SP
2024 Stats (AA, AAA): 125.2 IP / 120 K / 22.9 K% / 9.2 BB%
Dobbins had a slow start to his career following Tommy John in college but has produced consecutive seasons of solid work. In 2024, Dobbins threw 125 .2 innings with a 3.08 ERA with 120 strikeouts against 48 walks. Dobbins’ bread-and-butter is a plus slider with terrific movement, but his fastball and other secondaries will limit his upside.
14) Johanfran Garcia, C
2024 Stats (A): .385 AVG / .467 OBP / .596 SLG / 2 HR / 0 SB / 28.9 K% / 6.5 BB%
The younger of the Garcia brothers was climbing steadily in the prospect ranks before a season-ending knee injury limited him to 14 games in 2024. Garcia has above-average bat-to-ball skills, and his in-game power started to surface just before the injury.
15) Yordanny Monegro, SP
2024 Stats (A+): 76 IP / 94 K / 30.7 K% / 9.5 BB%
Monegro has been incredibly effective in his past two seasons, pitching to a 2.47 ERA with 187 strikeouts in 141.2 innings. He is as good as anyone in the organization when he’s on his stuff. But Monegro lacks consistency and will need to prove himself against higher-caliber hitters.
The Final Five
Although these prospects do not crack the top 15, dynasty managers should keep their eye on these five players.
Nazzan Zanetello, SS – Zanetello was a second-round pick last season and has struggled immensely since his debut. Although his profile shows talent, he still needs ample development time before he’s a viable star.
Allan Castro, OF – Castro took a nice step forward with his power output in 2024, but it came at the expense of batting average. If he can find that happy medium, Castro has the skills to be a platoon outfielder in the majors.
Conrad Cason, UTIL – Cason is a very intriguing prospect who was a two-way HS player and an eighth-round pick in 2024. On the mound, Cason has a mid-90s fastball and above-average change. At the plate, Cason is power-over-hit with some speed upside as well.
Payton Tolle, SP – Tolle was also a two-way player but did it collegiately at TCU. Tolle is 6’6″ and will pitch in the pros. His profile includes a four-pitch mix with elite extension but suboptimal control. If Tolle can harness his stuff, he could be a fourth or fifth starter.
Nelly Taylor, OF – Taylor was a pleasant surprise in 2024. Although his .233 batting average is discouraging, Taylor had eight homers, 26 doubles, and 33 steals in his pro debut. There is more in the tank for the 11th-rounder from 2023.