Boston put together a pitching-heavy draft class here that featured eight arms in their first ten picks and 15/21 overall, led by a few power arms that reach the upper 90's and even triple digits. For the second straight year, they scooped up a projected top ten pick in the middle of the first round, while third rounder Anthony Eyanson is exceptional value even considering his over slot bonus. Other than the Eyanson pick, the Red Sox mostly played their bonus pool straight up and stayed at or near slot value for virtually every other pick besides one large over slot bonus to Barrett Morgan in the eleventh round.
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Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. For example, "2-50" would indicate that a player was taken in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.
1-15: RHP Kyson Witherspoon, Oklahoma
Slot value: $5.11 million. Signing bonus: $5 million ($114,200 below slot value).
My rank: #9. MLB Pipeline: #10. Baseball America: #7.
They're very different pitchers, but this pick feels a lot like Trey Yesavage a year ago. Yesavage felt like the pretty clear cut SP3 in the class and a top half of the first round pick, but fell to #20 for Toronto. Similarly, Kyson Witherspoon firmly had his name in the upper tier of college arms this year and felt like he should have gone in the top dozen or so picks, but fell to the Red Sox at #15 and signed slightly below slot value to boot. Yesavage has had a very successful first full season in the Blue Jays organization, and Witherspoon will hope to follow the same course. Until now, it's been interesting. He and his twin brother Malachi starred at Fletcher High School in the Jacksonville area, where Malachi was considered a top-few rounds prospect and Kyson was considered to be behind him. They both attended Northwest Florida State JC, where Kyson began to pull ahead, then transferred together to Oklahoma after one season. Both found success in Norman, but while Malachi went #62 overall to Detroit, Kyson clearly established himself as the better prospect and finds himself in the first round. It's electric stuff headlined by a mid to upper 90's fastball that reaches 99 with riding and cutting life from a lower release point. He has a pair of tight breaking balls in a power slider and a newer, truer curveball that he added in 2025, with both flashing plus and projecting as at least above average in pro ball. His changeup has been inching forward too and gives him a fourth potentially average pitch, rounding out the arsenal nicely. Unlike most pitchers with upper 90's heaters and power breaking balls, Witherspoon pounds the strike zone and was able to dominate at bats all season long, finishing sixth in NCAA Division I with 124 strikeouts and running a minuscule 5.9% walk rate. The low walk rate was more due to control (pounding the zone) than command (hitting spots), with hitters just getting overwhelmed with his power stuff even inside the strike zone. The 6'2" righty looks durable though his arm action can get a bit funky with some stabbing action in the back, and while his command has been fringy for most of his career, it really took a step forward over the last calendar year. Witherspoon has #2 starter upside with a combination of velocity, feel for spin, and command that can be very difficult to find.
CBA-33: RHP Marcus Phillips, Tennessee
Slot value: $2.9 million. Signing bonus: $2.5 million ($398,300 below slot value).
My rank: #55. MLB Pipeline: #61. Baseball America: #67.
The University of Tennessee has become synonymous with electric arms, and Marcus Phillips is no exception. He spent a year at Iowa Western JC then transferred to Rocky Top, where he struggled to throw strikes as a sophomore reliever then joined the rotation as a junior in 2025. He started the season hot and especially turned heads with a dominant outing against Florida in March but his command backed up a big and by the end of the season his inconsistency lost him favor among Tennessee fans online. The stuff is loud. Phillips' fastball sits in the mid to upper 90's and has reached 101, coming in with some ride and lots of run from an ultra low release point. It is the proverbial "rocket ship" fastball that I pointed out for Diamondbacks comp pick Patrick Forbes, who went four picks ahead of Phillips. The South Dakota native has a bullet slider in the upper 80's that can really tie hitters up with short, tight, late bite, and it's his go-to secondary. While he doesn't use his changeup much yet, it's a very promising pitch that looks above average and should continue to progress as he throws it more in pro ball. It's one of the better three pitch mixes in this entire draft class. The 6'4", 245 pound righty is ultra physical and a strong athlete for his size, but he throws with some effort and has struggled with inconsistent command, leading his stuff to play down when he gets behind in the count and has to come over the heart of the plate. There can be days where Phillips is surrounded by traffic on the bases all game, so first up for Boston will be streamlining his delivery to help him maintain his power stuff while pitching a little more under control. If he can do that, he has a chance to become a #2 or #3 starter, though the command at present could push him to the bullpen. Still, he'll be tickling triple digits there with a pair of nasty secondary pitches,
2C-75: SS Henry Godbout, Virginia
Slot value: $1.09 million. Signing bonus: $1.09 million.
My rank: #94. MLB Pipeline: #72. Baseball America: #80.
Boston's first position player of the class is one of the best pure contact hitters in the country. Henry Godbout is a three year starter at UVA who hit .372/.472/.645 as a sophomore, which put him into second round consideration before a good-not-great junior season pushed him down to the second comp round for the Red Sox. All Godbout does is hit. He has a simple right handed swing that allows him to smack the ball around the field with incredible consistency, using all fields effectively and finding holes with the best of them. Combine that with a strong approach at the plate and you get a guy who has walked (12.4%) far more than he has struck out (8.8%) over the past two seasons while running elite contact rates near 90%. While he has some size to him at 6'2", he's not particularly twitchy and his swing is not geared for power, leading to below average pop that could get to fringe-average at best. That likely means single digit home run totals in most seasons with the potential to peak around 10-15 annually in his prime. Drafted as a shortstop, the lack of twitch probably keeps him at second base long term, where he played all year for UVA. He is an average overall athlete. How far the Brooklyn native goes will be determined by his power, as there is little question that he can put the ball in play consistently even against upper minors and MLB pitching. He'll need to put some impact behind that contact in order to remain productive, which the Red Sox believe he can do even with wood bats. I think Boston would be happy if he reaches something like a Nico Hoerner ceiling.
3-87: RHP Anthony Eyanson, Louisiana State
Slot value: $907,200. Signing bonus: $1.75 million ($842,800 above slot value).
My rank: #44. MLB Pipeline: #40. Baseball America: #32.
Usually it's prep players who are floated down the board for large over slot bonuses, but every year a few college players sneak through. This year it was Anthony Eyanson, who leveraged his youth relative to his class to sign for roughly the slot value of the #54 pick here at #87. Even with the large bonus, it's a great get for Boston given that Eyanson was at times projected as high as the 30's. He began his career at UC San Diego, where he quickly established himself as one of the most projectable arms on the West Coast, then transferred to LSU for his junior year in 2025. The results were excellent despite the jump in competition, and his 152 strikeouts ranked third in NCAA Division I behind only top five picks Kade Anderson (180, Mariners) and Liam Doyle (164, Cardinals). The Southern California native works off a low to mid 90's fastball that reaches 98 at peak, albeit with average movement. Previously known for a sharp downer curve that remains an above average pitch, his sweepier slider has taken a step forward in Baton Rouge and become a true plus out pitch. The changeup is starting to come along as well, giving him a fourth solid pitch to round out the arsenal. Eyanson is a great athlete with a controlled, springy delivery that enables him to hold his stuff deep into starts and remain around the zone. While the command is average, he is aggressive in the zone and does a nice job limiting his walks. Additionally, the 6'2" righty only turns 21 in October, a birthday that would typically put him as a rising college junior rather than one who just completed his junior season. The athleticism and youth make the Red Sox think there is much more in the tank for Eyanson, bringing projection that would typically be found in a high school rather than a college prospect. He now has three years of college performance, including one in the SEC, under his belt even with the projection ahead and has plenty of now stuff. The Red Sox may tinker to find more movement on his fastball but the velocity and feel for spin are big league ready. Eyanson has mid-rotation starter upside.
4-118: SS Mason White, Arizona
Slot value: $642,200. Signing bonus: $642,200.
My rank: #160. MLB Pipeline: #143. Baseball America: #161.
Mason White has a lot of clear strengths and a lot of clear areas for improvement. A three year starter at Arizona, he has reached double digit home runs, batted over .300, and slugged over .600 in each season as one of the better performers to come through Tucson in recent years. 2025 was his best season yet as he hit .327/.412/.689 with 20 home runs across 65 games, all career highs, and a couple huge performances in May (4-4, 2 HR vs West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament on 5/23 and 4-5, 3 HR against Utah Valley in the Eugene Regional on 5/31) boosted him at the end. I have variously seem him listed between 5'9", 171 pounds (Baseball America) and 5'11", 186 pounds (Arizona website), but regardless of his measurables he is clearly smaller than the prototypical power hitter. Still, the little guy can really swing it with electric hands and bat speed that produce plus raw power regardless. With 49 career home runs and a .636 slugging percentage over 177 games, he's tapping it too, albeit in Arizona's hitter-friendly environment. The swing is geared for launching baseballs to the pull side and that has worked consistently in season, though there are big contact questions. He has hit just .184/.284/.316 with a 28.4% strikeout rate over two seasons and 61 games against top pitching in the Cape Cod League, struggling to tap his power and struggling even more to make contact. The strikeout rates have been high in Tucson as well, though he did cut them from an ugly 30.5% as a sophomore in 2024 to a still high, but more reasonable 21.5% as a junior in 2025. He has a lot of moving parts in his left handed swing with a big leg lift, some barrel tip, and a lot of hand movement, which combined with an ultra aggressive approach can make it hard to avoid racking up whiffs. He will almost certainly need to tone things down in pro ball in order to produce against pro pitching, perhaps sacrificing some power to cut the strikeouts. Meanwhile, the Tucson native has seen time all over the infield and could fit at any position, though shortstop may be a stretch with defensive tools looking closer to average than plus. He profiles as a power hitting utility infielder, though if he can continue making contact there is a ceiling of a Rougned Odor type.
9-268: RHP Jacob Mayers, Louisiana State
Slot value: $203,500. Signing bonus: $190,000 ($13,500 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #304.
While CBA pick Marcus Phillips can touch 101 with his fastball, he's not the hardest throwing pitcher in this Red Sox draft class. That would be Jacob Mayers. Mayers began his career at Nicholls State, where he sat low to mid 90's and missed bats in bunches while also walking a ton. His 105 and 106 strikeouts in 2023 and 2024, respectively, both led the Southland Conference, but he also walked 76 batters in 70.2 innings in 2024. LSU loved the arm strength and brought him over, but while he was a starter at Nicholls, his lack of command pushed him to the bullpen in Baton Rouge and he walked 20 batters in 15 innings. He made two starts in the MLB Draft League after the season, striking out a dozen but also walking six more in 6.1 innings. Mayers has massive stuff, to say the least. In longer outings, the fastball sits comfortably in the mid 90's, but he ratchets it up to the upper 90's in short stints and has reached as high as 102. Not only that, but the pitch comes in with huge riding and running action to make it one of the most unhittable fastballs in the entire country. He has a power slider in the upper 80's that gets nice depth when he's on it, while his low 90's splitter is another pitch that can be dastardly when it's located. Problem is, nothing is really ever located. Nearly a decade ago when Riley Pint was one of the top prospects in the 2016 draft, I remember reading his fastballs being referred to as "poorly aimed lightning bolts." I think that is an apt description for Jacob Mayers in 2025. He has true bottom of the scale command, with the baseball exploding out of his hand in a direction that could be anybody's guess. In relief when he's running it up near triple digits and riding it in on right handed hitters, that can be a terrifying at bat when one gets away from him up and in. While his glove arm makes a bit of a roundabout trip down the mound and he coils and uncoils a bit over his front side, it's otherwise a pretty clean delivery and probably more a matter of how electric his stuff is than a lack of body control. The 6'5" righty native leans heavily on the fastball and struggles to command his offspeed stuff (not that he controls the fastball much better), and Boston will want to get him throwing the slider and splitter more often against pro hitters who can catch up to 100 up and in. He's almost certainly a reliever long term, and if the Red Sox can get him to even below average command, he could be a high leverage reliever in the Josh Staumont mold. Having turned 21 just a month before the draft, the Baton Rouge-area native is on the younger side for his class.
10-298: SS Maximus Martin, Kansas State
Slot value: $191,300. Signing bonus: $191,300.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #223. Baseball America: #184.
Maximus Martin has had a bit of a winding career, but joining the Red Sox will bring him back to his roots in the Northeast. While inconsistencies kept him out of the top echelon of prospects in 2022, he was a local scout favorite as a New Jersey prep and had some projections as high as the second round, though he probably fit better in the third on talent. Firmly committed to rep his home state at Rutgers, he made it to campus but only stayed for one season as he earned intermittent playing time despite showing solid power and on-base ability. Transferring to Georgia State for the 2024 season, he got to play every day but didn't hit for as much power. Transferring a second time to Kansas State in 2025, he broke out for his best season yet and payed his way back into draft conversations. Martin has gotten noticeably stronger during his time at school(s) and now shows plus raw power that he tapped more than ever with 14 home runs in 2025. The power can play down at times as he can expand the strike zone and doesn't always get his A swing off, which also leads to elevated strikeout rates. Contact and consistency have been a question mark since his prep days and while the production returned with a vengeance in 2025, he did strike out 22.6% of the time and his sub-70% contact rates painted a more concerning picture. It seems that he has frequently had to choose between contact and power throughout his career rather than showing both at the same time, so his development will hinge on finding a balance between the two. Defensively, he has played shortstop and center field in Manhattan and has a shot at either in pro ball, though as he's gotten thicker he may project better at third base or a corner outfield spot. The bat is obviously much more attractive if he can maintain his speed and agility and stick higher up on the defensive totem pole, with a future as a platoon bat more likely if he slips down. The raw ingredients are there for a very solid big league contributor.
11-328: RHP Barrett Morgan, Cowley County JC [KS]
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $500,000 ($350,000 against bonus pool).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked.
With some money left over, the Red Sox dropped fifth round money on Barrett Morgan to begin the third phase of the draft to flip him from a Texas A&M commitment. Morgan pitched two years at Cowley JC in southern Kansas, where he served as the Tigers' closer and put up an absurd 2025 in which he struck out 40 of the 82 batters he faced (48.8%) while allowing just one run and four walks over 21.1 innings. He works with a low to mid 90's fastball that touches 97 at peak with angry running and riding life from a high slot, coming in with downward plane. He works in a sharp curveball as well to keep hitters off balance, though it can get inconsistent at times. Morgan pounded the strike zone fearlessly this year and in short bursts, hitters couldn't pick up his stuff. While he has thrown exclusively in relief in Arkansas City, the 6'5" righty has the size, command, and delivery to start long term if he can lengthen his arsenal a bit. He'll need a changeup, which I feel he should be able to work in, and a bit more consistency with his curveball. Already packing 230 pounds on that big frame having turned 20 in March, he looks plenty durable. This is an interesting under the radar pick to follow for Boston.
13-388: 3B Jack Winnay, Wake Forest
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $150,000.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #384.
Jack Winnay gives the Red Sox a local kid in this draft. A native of Newton, a suburb just a few miles west of downtown Boston, he attended Belmont Hill High School in nearby Belmont before heading south to Wake Forest for college. After mostly riding the bench as a freshman, he stepped into an every day role as a sophomore split between first base and the outfield while cracking 35 home runs in 119 games between 2024 and 2025. He excels at getting the ball up in the air to the pull side, a skill teams covet more and more as it directly translates into game power. He controls his quick right handed uppercut well, limiting the strikeouts and controlling the zone fairly well, albeit not perfectly. Together, his approach helps his average raw power play into above average game power, something the Red Sox think will hold has he moves to wood bats and away from the hitter-friendly confines of David Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem. The first base/corner outfield combination is not the most attractive, especially for right handed hitters, but the Red Sox think Winnay can play a solid third base and have tried him out there in the minors. If he can stick at the hot corner, it takes some of the pressure off his bat and he could work his way up as a platoon type who can hit for some power and get on base. If not, he'll really need to hit while fighting that uphill right-right corner profile. Though he was a true junior, Winnay is very old for the class and turned 22 in June, making him roughly sixteen months older than fellow junior draftee Anthony Eyanson of the same graduating class.
18-538: LHP Cade Fisher, Auburn
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $150,000.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked.
Scouts in the Southeast have long hoped that Cade Fisher would put it together, and while thus far it hasn't happened, the Red Sox remain hopeful that his best days are ahead of him. Fisher began his career at Florida, where he immediately took on important innings as a reliever and ran a minuscule 6% walk rate with 13 walks in 49.1 innings as a true freshman. At the time, he was getting early projections as a future first round pick. While he posted healthy strikeout and walk rates as a sophomore in 2024, his ERA ballooned from 3.10 to 7.13 as he struggled to keep runners off base and subsequently from scoring. Transferring to Auburn in 2025, he brought his ERA back down to a more respectable 4.68 but his stuff and peripherals did not follow, leaving him as a bit of an enigma. Though he touched 95 at Florida, his velocity was way down at Auburn and far too often he lived in the mid to upper 80's, only tickling the low 90's when he really reached back. It doesn't matter what your command looks like, if your name isn't Jared Weaver or Jamie Moyer, that's not going to play. Fisher has a big sweeping slider that projects as a plus pitch with more power, while he also shows a solid fading changeup. In addition, the North Georgia native attacks hitters from a low three quarters slot that puts flat plane on the baseball, while his extension really creates a unique look for hitters. The Red Sox drafted another high extension lefty last year in Payton Tolle that has already looked great, though Tolle was admittedly a very different pitcher otherwise. Fisher is extremely projectable at 6'3" and moves well on the mound, previously showing plus command as a freshman though it has backed up to above average over the last couple seasons. If the Red Sox can help him regain some of his lost velocity, he could be a real steal in the back of the draft. The size, handedness, release characteristics, and command are all coveted and velo is just about the only thing missing.
