The Boston Red Sox farm system is getting combined opinions forward of the 2023 season.
Last month, The Athletic’s Keith Law put the Red Sox all the way in which right down to twenty third in his organizational expertise rankings. His reasoning for the surprisingly low rating was whereas Boston’s group of position-player prospects may be within the higher half of farm techniques, their group of pitching prospects is among the many weakest.
On Wednesday, Baseball America supplied a extra constructive outlook.
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The Red Sox got here in at tenth in Baseball America’s preseason organizational expertise rankings. The rationalization for the top-10 placement included the names of a handful of promising prospects.
“Slowly however certainly, Boston’s system is enhancing. The group is not deep, but it surely’s led by near-ready first baseman Triston Casas and proficient shortstop Marcelo Mayer. Breakout prospect Ceddanne Rafaela and toolsy wunderkind Miguel Bleis add upside to the system, and Japanese import Masataka Yoshida provides Boston a plug-and-play outfielder for its new-look lineup.”
Casas is about to start the 2023 marketing campaign because the Red Sox’ beginning first baseman. Mayer is the No. 9 ranked prospect in your complete league, in line with MLB Pipeline. Rafaela joined the Top 100 MLB prospects listing after a breakout 2022 season. Bleis, solely 19 years previous, is taken into account arguably probably the most proficient all-around participant within the system.
It’s price noting Baseball America counted Yoshida as a prospect and Law didn’t in his rankings. Though Yoshida is taken into account a rookie, he is 29 years previous and has a number of years {of professional} expertise within the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
Boston’s farm system has come a great distance since Chaim Bloom joined the entrance workplace after the 2019 season. In 2019, Baseball America had the Red Sox useless final (thirtieth) in its organizational expertise rankings. The membership rose to twentieth in 2020 and 2021, eleventh in 2022, and now tenth.
As encouraging as that’s for the way forward for the franchise, it will not make followers really feel any higher concerning the present state of the membership. The Red Sox are coming off a last-place end within the American League East that was topped off by the departure of homegrown shortstop Xander Bogaerts within the offseason. They’re projected to complete at or close to the underside of the division for the second straight yr.
With polarizing opinions on the farm system and pessimism surrounding the big-league membership, this is a corporation with lots to show in 2023.
