The Boston Red Sox's farm system has been talked about a lot this offseason, especially after the Garrett Crochet trade, which saw the Sox give up four prospects to land the lefty ace. Some have criticized the organization's depth in the wake of the trade, but Baseball America still ranked the Sox' system as the best in baseball even after losing some of their most highly touted prospects.
While much of the conversation has focused on the "Big Three" — Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer — the Red Sox have plenty of other talented players in their system, like Luis Perales, their top-ranked pitching prospect.
Perales was off to a good start last year and was promoted to Double-A Portland in June, but only managed to throw just over seven innings before experiencing elbow inflammation. He underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the rest of the season, and he's just now working his way back.
He was included on the Red Sox's 40-man roster and is back to throwing as he recovers, but he's currently only at 90 feet and is not expected to pitch at all in 2025.
Red Sox's top pitching prospect Luis Perales gets encouraging update after surgery
At 6'1", 160 pounds, Perales is wiry, but he still finds a way to reach 99 MPH on his fastball, which MLB Pipeline has given a grade of 70 on their 20 to 80 scale. Across High-A and Double-A last year, he managed a 2.94 ERA in 33 2/3 innings, striking out 56 batters while walking just 12 and surrendering only one home run. Thanks to his fastball, he can miss bats at an impressive rate, as shown by his stats last year.
Recovering from Tommy John is a long and arduous process that can take as much of a mental toll as a physical one. Fortunately, Perales is happy with how the Red Sox have managed his injury, saying through a translator, “...I feel like they’ve helped me a lot, especially on the mental side to just stay focused and have a whole future ahead of me.” And although it's unlikely that he'll return this year, he's not ruling anything out and is taking his recovery one step at a time.