The MLB season is a marathon, not a sprint —162 games across six months is no joke. A season that long allows for many different players get a chance to play meaningful games.
For the Boston Red Sox, this season is going to be about continued growth. The goal will be to make it further into October, but that will also come with individual player growth.
Red Sox Nation already has its sights set on a few players this season who will be key contributors. Roman Anthony, Garrett Crochet, Willson Contreras, and Ranger Suárez all have lofty expectations from the fanbase. Others, like Carlos Narváez and Garrett Whitlock, who stepped into big roles last year, have fans anticipating returns to form in 2026.
Some players, though, have very low expectations, or no expectations at all, for the season ahead. A long season allows them to potentially prove people wrong and be a nice surprise for the Fenway faithful.
3 Red Sox players who will pleasantly surprise fans in 2026
Masataka Yoshida
Yoshida has become a source of hate for the fanbase. With the ownership group constantly putting monetary restrictions on themselves, Yoshida's $15 million per year has made some fans dislike his presence on the roster. That, combined with the fact that he has contributed to the Red Sox outfield logjam, has really soured him to the fanbase.
He isn't a bad player, though. In his three years in Boston, he's batted .282 hitter with a .762 OPS. In September of 2025, when he got regular at-bats, he hit .333 with a .887 OPS. While he won't be getting the same amount of playing time in 2026, at least to start, he is still going to play enough to prove his worth.
Johan Oviedo
Johan Oviedo has almost become an afterthought of this offseason. He was the second (and least proven) of the three starting pitchers brought in this winter and is coming off just nine games in 2025 following rehab from Tommy John Surgery in late 2023.
It’s a great day to be a Johan Oviedo believer. Outlier extension, throws hard, misses bats and limits hard contact. A lot to like there especially in what will be his first full season back after having TJ surgery in 2024.
— Ian Cundall (@IanCundall) December 5, 2025
The righty checks a lot of boxes that the Red Sox like in a pitcher. At 6'6'' and 275 pounds, he's built like an NFL tight end. He has elite extension at 7.4 feet, which ranked in the 98th percentile in 2025. Finally, he throws hard (averaged 95.5 MPH on his four-seam in 2025) with a lot of induced vertical break on his fastballs. These are all qualities this Red Sox regime looks for and has excelled in developing. With the way Andrew Bailey and Co. have developed pitchers, he should take a big leap forward in 2026.
Shane Drohan
Drohan is a mostly unknown quantity to Red Sox fans. The 27-year-old lefty was protected from the Rule 5 Draft this winter and is now on the 40-man. Less than a month to go until pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers, the Sox still only have two left-handed relievers in the bullpen.
While Drohan will certainly start the year in Triple-A, and likely in the rotation, it shouldn't come as a surprise if he gets called up to pitch out of the bullpen. With the number of lefty starters the Red Sox currently have above him, he'll likely make his way to the bullpen. He was very successful in the minors last season, and when he finally gets the call, it shouldn't come as a surprise when he sticks around for a while.