Midseason rerank highlights prospect trio knocking on Fenway's door
BOSTON – For the Red Sox, business is booming and excitement is building at the Minor League level.
News that had been anticipated for weeks at last occurred on Sunday, when the club’s “Big Three” of prospects – shortstop Marcelo Mayer, outfielder Roman Anthony and catcher Kyle Teel – were promoted to Triple-A Worcester.
The ultra-talented trio will be playing their home games less than 50 miles from Fenway Park, creating anticipation for the moment they’ll be ready to take that next step to Boston.
Momentum is building in Boston’s farm system, in large part due to several recent prospects playing a big role for the Major League club this season, including Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, David Hamilton and Tanner Houck.
This week, MLB Pipeline re-ranked each Top 30 list and updated its Top 100 rankings, which includes five Red Sox prospects.
Let’s take a look at how everything else shook out following the midseason rankings.
Here’s a look at the Red Sox’s top prospects:
1. Marcelo Mayer, SS (No. 5)
2. Roman Anthony, OF (No. 14)
3. Kyle Teel, C (No. 27)
4. Braden Montgomery, OF (No. 59)
5. Kristian Campbell, INF/OF (No. 80)
Biggest jump/fall
Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the preseason list:
Jump: Kristian Campbell, INF/OF (Preseason: 30 | Midseason: 5)
Campbell, a compensatory fourth-round pick in ‘23 out of Georgia Tech, has taken a huge leap by becoming one of the best overall hitters in the organization. Campbell’s numbers in his first 49 games after his promotion to Double-A Portland were eye-opening (.380/.484/.592, 16 doubles, seven homers, 32 RBIs, 17 stolen bases). The fact that Campbell is versatile on defense only helps his cause. He has mainly split time between second base and center field this season.
Fall: Nathan Hickey, C (Preseason: 18 | Midseason: (No longer ranked)
It has been a precipitous drop at the plate for Hickey this season, who had a line of .211/.339/.398 in his first 85 games and 299 at-bats for Triple-A Worcester this season. In 80 games after his promotion to Double-A last season, Hickey belted 15 homers to go with a sturdy .826 OPS.
More from MLB Pipeline:
• Top 100 prospects | Stats | Video | Podcast | Complete coverage
New to the list
Here are the players added to the Top 30 from outside the organization:
No. 4: Braden Montgomery, OF (Draft, first round, No. 12 overall, Texas A&M)
No. 15: Payton Tolle, LHP (Draft, second round, TCU)
No. 20: Conrad Cason, RHP/SS (Draft, eighth round, Greater Atlanta Christian High School)
No. 29: Zach Penrod, LHP (Minor League free agent)
No. 30: Dalvinson Reyes, RHP (Minor League free agent)
Best tools
Players are graded on a traditional 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.
Hit: 55 -- Chase Meidroth (Roman Anthony, Franklin Arias, Kristian Campbell, Yoeilin Cespedes, Marcelo Mayer, Mikey Romero, Kyle Teel)
Power: 60 -- Roman Anthony (Braden Montgomery)
Run: 60 -- Kristian Campbell (Miguel Bleis)
Arm: 70 -- Braden Montgomery
Defense: 60 -- Franklin Arias
Fastball: 70 -- Luis Perales
Curveball: 60 -- Yordanny Monegro
Slider: 55 -- David Sandlin (Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts, Luis Perales, Dalvinson Reyes, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz)
Changeup: 60 -- Zach Penrod
Control: 60 -- Jedixson Paez