Keith Law Changes Tune On Red Sox In New Farm System Rankings

Earlier this week, Keith Law published his new top 100 prospect rankings for The Athletic (subscription required). Four Boston Red Sox players made the list, including three pitchers.

That speaks to how quickly Craig Breslow has improved the team’s pitching pipeline since he took over in late 2023. Whereas his predecessor, Chaim Bloom, focused more on position players, Breslow has loaded the Red Sox’s farm system with promising arms.

That transformation has impressed Law, who’s been a bit lower on Boston’s farm system than his peers in recent years. Now, he seems to be more bullish than them, putting the Red Sox at No. 10 in his new farm system rankings. He also has them in Tier 3 out of eight.

“For several years, I had the Red Sox rated a little lower than perhaps their fans wanted, because there was no pitching at all in the system,” Law explained. “Now they’re a pitching development powerhouse, with two left-handed starters on the top 100 who made enormous strides in 2025, while they’ve graduated their big three hitting prospects, so their system is now extremely pitching-heavy. That’s not a bad thing, just an interesting 180 in such a short span.”

Boston’s top prospect according to Law, Franklin Arias, is a position player. Law also has Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and Kyson Witherspoon in his top 100.

The Red Sox have graduated several of their top position player prospects to the Majors recently, including Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell. They’ve also traded away numerous prospects during Breslow’s tenure — something Bloom was reluctant to do.

Boston’s investment on the mound is paying off, as Breslow has assembled one of the best rotations in baseball and remarkable starting pitching depth. Tolle and Early both debuted last year and pitched in the postseason, so they appear poised for even bigger roles in 2026.