Teams around the league seem to have learned from the Boston Red Sox's mistakes. There were 19 Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) eligible players to make Opening Day rosters in 2026, and now the promotion of consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball, Konnor Griffin of the Pirates, makes it 20.
MLB introduced the Prospect Promotion Incentive in 2022 as a way to incentivize teams against manipulating service time. Any player who accrues one year of service time their rookie year — meaning they are on the major league roster by the second week of the season, for the whole season — and wins rookie of the year, or finishes in the top three of MVP or Cy Young once in their first three seasons, can earn their team a draft pick between the first and second rounds.
Griffin getting his call-up makes five top 10 prospects eligible to receive picks this year or in the future. Those five likely have the best chance at winning picks for their clubs due to their pedigree. It's the smartest route to take, and one the Sox didn't take in 2025.
The Red Sox wasted a clear opportunity to earn PPI pick with Roman Anthony in 2025
The #Pirates and SS Konnor Griffin have been negotiating a long-term extension for a few weeks now, but purchasing his contract first makes good business sense.
— Spotrac (@spotrac) April 2, 2026
By allowing Griffin to debut before his extension, he remains eligible for PPI, which would reward Pittsburgh with a…
Boston had a "Big Three" of prospects headed into 2025. Roman Anthony was a consensus top two prospect, Marcelo Mayer was a consensus top 20, and Kristian Campbell was in the top 30. Campbell was the only one to make the opening day roster, though.
Campbell was, and still is, PPI eligible through 2027. Anthony and Mayer aren't, though. By getting called up mid-season and accruing 60 days of major league service time, the Red Sox burned their chance to earn PPI picks from either of them.
Especially in the case of Anthony, it seems like a waste. It was widely considered that Anthony would have been ready for Opening Day 2025. As long as Boston waited for him to make his MLB debut to extend him, as they did with Campbell, he could have earned them a pick. Anthony clearly had the best chance at doing so among the three.
It seemed odd then that they didn't have him on the Opening Day roster in 2025. It looks even more odd now, seeing how much Craig Breslow has valued draft picks in the last year, acquiring two picks in separate trades with the Brewers in the last year. Wouldn't a chief baseball officer who likes to have the extra draft capital want the chance to earn it?
There is, of course, the balance of promoting a player at the right time. If they are called up too early, it can hurt their development, and that may outweigh the benefit of the extra draft pick. That's why the case could have been made for Mayer to be in Triple-A last year, but it never made sense with Anthony.
This season, the Sox have learned slightly from their mistakes of last year. Connelly Early making the Opening Day roster makes him PPI eligible, provided he stays in the majors all year. He'll just have an uphill climb to make with all the talented rookies in the American League this season.