Baseball America is one of the publications fans truly take seriously when it comes to prospect rankings. So when they lock in on a prospect, you need to pay attention.
On May 5, BA dropped updated prospect rankings (subscription required). There were four Boston Red Sox prospects in the top 100. That included one big mover and one who joined the list entirely.
BA ranked left-handed pitcher Payton Tolle at No. 8, making him the top-ranked prospect for the Red Sox. Next was the first massive jump. Franklin Arias came in at No. 16. That was 34 spots up from the No. 50 he was previously ranked.
The jump for Arias was expected. He was always seen as a prospect with fantastic defense and an elite hit tool. However, he didn’t have the power to take him to the next level. This season, he’s hit eight home runs in 81 at-bats in Double-A. The right-handed hitting shortstop hit just eight homers in 479 ABs all of last season. The newfound power of Arias has skyrocketed him well past the ceiling that evaluators thought he had.
Baseball America rankings give a big boost to Red Sox prospects Franklin Arias and Anthony Eyanson
Coming in at No. 73 is 2025 first-round pick Kyson Witherspoon. The right-handed pitcher has struggled a bit in High-A. However, we’ve seen some positives. Witherspoon has had a bit of bad luck, but he’s picking up plenty of strikeouts (25 in 21 2/3 innings) and has showcased a nasty arsenal of pitches.
There was one other prospect who actually landed in the rankings for the first time, between Arias and Witherspoon. Anthony Eyanson, 2025 third-round pick, landed at No. 48.
Entering the season, Eyanson was unranked. However, he immediately got a lot of buzz following that Spring Breakout performance that saw the right-handed pitcher hit a previously unhit 100 MPH.
Since the regular season started, Eyanson has been somehow better than even that Spring Breakout inning got people dreaming about. In five starts in High-A, Eyanson posted a 0.44 ERA, .104 BAA, and 0.49 WHIP. He struck out 34 batters compared to three walks in 20 1/3 innings. That’s all the Red Sox needed to see from Eyanson before promoting him to Double-A.
The LSU product has been so good that he’s actually hurting the fan sentiment of his fellow pitchers. There are some who are much more worried about Witherspoon, Marcus Phillips (who has been great following a rough first outing), and others simply because they aren’t doing whatever unholy things Eyanson is doing on the mound.
The BA rankings are a good reminder to not let the success of one prospect cloud your judgment on another. Witherspoon is still very much a top prospect in all of baseball. Eyanson’s just special.
What makes Eyanson so special is that there’s been no weakness in his game so far. He’s throwing strikes, he’s getting whiffs, he has multiple plus-pitches (fastball, slider, curveball) with a changeup that’s looked filthy as well. When hitters do make contact off him, it tends not to be hit hard at all.
If anyone was still wary of Anthony Eyanson, they likely weren’t watching him. But if they were, BA should tell you how a lot of big evaluators view him right now. The Red Sox could have the best pitching prospect in baseball in their hands by the end of the season.
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