by The Red Sox farm system is still placed well on Baseball America’s midseason skill rankings, despite Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell no longer being considered prospects.
With Marcelo Mayer still fulfilling the prospect requirements and ranking No. 10 on the list of the Top 100 prospects overall, Boston’s pipeline was ranked No. 5 in baseball by Baseball America.
The Red Sox had five players in the Top 100 overall: Mayer, shortstop Franklin Arias (51), outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia (79), and pitchers Payton Tolle (41) and Kyson Witherspoon (65).
As recently as the start of 2025, Boston was ranked No. 1 and has long been regarded as one of baseball’s greatest farm systems.
But the big three—Anthony, Mayer, and former first-round pick Kyle Teel—were largely responsible for the excitement surrounding Red Sox prospects. Following Campbell’s ascent in the rankings the previous season, that trio became a quartet; however, it reverted to a trio following Teel’s trade to the Chicago White Sox for Garrett Crochet.
However, there is still a lot of excitement surrounding some of Boston’s minor leaguers, despite Mayer being the only member of that talented 2024 bunch. Specifically, Tolle’s stellar 2025 season has propelled him up the prospect rankings.
Tolle is ranked No. 28 on MLB Pipeline’s rankings, which were revised this week, in addition to being in Baseball America’s top 50. The 6-foot-6 lefty has already advanced to Triple-A Worcester after beginning the season with Greenville, Boston’s High-A affiliate. In 18 outings in 2025, he has a 3.31 ERA and 119 strikeouts.
Pure filth5 IP | 2 H | 1 R | 1 BB | 4 KM Payton TolleThe Double-A@PortlandSeaDogs’ No. 94 prospect in LB (@RedSox) has a 1.96 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched.pic.twitter.com/jy6fIypPjd
Some question if Tolle will have the chance to assist the major league team as a last-minute boost because his stock has increased so quickly. If Alex Cora and the Red Sox decide to deploy Tolle late in the season and send him back to Worcester for the beginning of 2026, he still has a number of option years remaining at the age of 22.
The names of Arias and Garcia have surfaced in trade deadline rumors as possible prospects who might be included in packages. However, neither was relocated, and they are still improving at the lesser league levels. As a possible Boston possibility in late 2025, Garcia has been training at first base in Worcester. So far in 2025, he has hit 19 home runs while batting.281.
Despite being a less well-known pitching prospect than Tolle, Witherspoon has the ability to start because of his fastball, which can reach speeds of around 100 miles per hour at its peak. Boston’s pitching pipeline is in a stronger state than it was in the seasons leading up to 2025, just with Tolle and Witherspoon.
For the Red Sox, having a deep pipeline is advantageous. They have access to a wealth of potential talent, and if the appropriate circumstances present themselves, they have enough strong prospects to trade some of them away to strengthen their lineup’s weaker spots.
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