Red Sox Prospect Roundup: Roman Anthony Deserves His Shot

The opening month of the 2025 season is in the books and the Boston Red Sox have plenty to reflect on in their minor-league development.

Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer continue to tear the cover off the ball in Triple-A and only need a roster opening to finally debut. There’s greater intrigue with young pitchers in a new pipeline, and worthy candidates are moving on up.

Here’s what we saw in the Red Sox farm system in April.

Roman Anthony Deserves His MLB Shot Now
The only thing that logically kept Roman Anthony off the Opening Day roster was a crowded outfield of talent, which the Red Sox certainly have. Anthony, baseball’s top minor-league prospect, hit the ground running, and his play slams on the door of the big leagues.

Anthony absolutely mashed baseballs all month long with a .292 average and a .963 OPS. He launched five home runs and had just two fewer walks than strikeouts. He’s MLB-ready and there’s no doubt about it.

For the Red Sox, that promotion should logically come sooner rather than later.

New Ace In Portland
With Luis Perales on the shelf this season after Tommy John surgery, Yordanny Monegro could be the most intriguing starting pitcher in the Red Sox system in 2025.

He’s been a strikeout machine in 2025 with 27 punch-outs and just two walks in 13 1/3 innings to the tune of a 2.70 ERA. The stuff is real, and he made the most of following Brayan Bello and Liam Hendriks’ rehab outings with a dominant appearance against the Hartford Yard Goats.

Strong Password
Jhostynxon Garcia looks solid at the plate to start the season in Double-A Portland.

“The Password” slashed hit .328 in April with a .930 OPS. His outfield defense remains underrated, and his growth should encourage the Red Sox.

NESN.com assessed Garcia’s value in the 2025 Red Sox Prospect Series.

Two Studs Earned Promotions To High-A Greenville
Franklin Arias and Brandon Clarke wasted no time making their mark in Low-A Salem this season.

Arias, the 19-year-old shortstop, hit for contact at a high level with a .346 batting average, an on-base percentage at a .407 clip, and an OPS over .800. He needed just 19 games to make the jump to High-A in the Red Sox system.

NESN.com featured Arias in the 2025 Red Sox Prospect Series, and he’s reflected previous assessments of his potential.

“I don’t want to say it was necessarily a shock to all of us, but I do think it was a little interesting that someone that highly touted starts the year with Salem after he finished the year with Salem last year and put together a pretty good season,” Salem Red Sox broadcaster Braden Schenck told NESN.com. “He was definitely our headline guy coming into this season. In the time we had him, he was very consistent. Not necessarily a power hit, but he’d be good for two or three hits a game, which really kind of sparked our offense. He was a very versatile guy with the fact that he played very good defense out at shortstop. He brought some speed, but it was really the contact bat that propelled the lineup.”

Brandon Clarke also made a statement and is the hottest new arm in the system. He’s one of 14 pitchers the Red Sox selected in Craig Breslow’s first draft last summer. So far, the lefty is electric. Clarke posted a 0.93 ERA with 17 strikeouts and just two walks in 9 2/3 innings. He didn’t go deep into starts with pitch counts, but his high-velocity fastball and unique arm slot dominated hitters in Low-A Salem.

“He was a little bit of a wild card,” Schenck said. “When he came in, he was throwing 98-99 MPH. It is insane. He’s just got this presence on the mound. He’s a big guy. The arm slot, he’s definitely an intimidating presence. When he came out for that first start, I think we were all like, ‘Wow, this guy, he’s legit.'”