2 days ago
Red Sox teenager ‘wildly impressive,' batting .379, now a Top 10 MLB prospect
'Wildly impressive' is how High-A Greenville hitting coach JP Fasone described what 19-year-old Red Sox prospect Franklin Arias is doing offensively.
'We watched him in spring training and knew it was gonna be a good year ... but watching him do this is definitely above expectations, for sure,' Fasone said.
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Arias has been in Greenville a little over a month after receiving a promotion from High-A Salem on April 29. The 5-foot-11 shortstop might not be there much longer as a promotion to Double-A Portland has to be on the table soon. He's dominating High-A pitching. The Venezuelan native is 44-for-116 (.379 batting average) with a .416 on-base percentage, .534 slugging percentage, .950 OPS, two home runs, 10 doubles, one triple, 22 RBIs, 14 runs, eight walks, nine strikeouts and five steals in 27 games at Greenville.
The Athletic's Keith Law recently ranked Arias No. 8 on his top-50 prospect rankings.
'He's done everything he needs to do to put on some weight and make some swing adjustments,' Fasone said.
Is he ready for Double A now?
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'Luckily I don't have to worry about any of that (promotion decisions) but I would say if he continues on this trajectory there's no reason he wouldn't be,' Fasone said. 'He's definitely shown he can handle the pitching. There's definitely things we still wanna see out of him in Greenville. But when the people that make those decisions make the call, he'll definitely be ready.'
Hitting the ball consistently in the air is one of the things the Red Sox want to see him do more often.
'Getting the ball in the air and getting his point of contact a little bit further out in front,' Fasone said. 'He's really good at letting the ball travel and taking his hits. But I think there's more opportunities for him to kind of catch the ball out in front, hit the ball in the air a little bit more and pull it a little bit more. He tends to miss some pitches early in the count. I think as he continues to improve those pitches will get hit.'
Law wrote in his scouting report: 'It's electric on both sides of the ball and if there's a flaw in his game, pitchers through the High-A level haven't exposed it yet. He's been groundball-heavy at 48 percent, but he's also driving enough balls to get to some in-game power.'
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Fasone said the high groundball rate is not a concern.
'But it's definitely something that he's working on and something he gets frustrated with at times even when he does get hits,' Fasone said. 'He knows that that's kind of his goal is to hit the ball in the air a little bit more. So it's definitely not a concern but something we're working on because he does have some power. And I think we can kind of tap into that a little bit more than he's doing now. But obviously hitting almost .400, there's not much to complain about.'
His Baseball America scouting report entering 2025 noted, 'Arias' .178 isolated slugging ranked fifth, while his 17.5% strikeout rate was second lowest. Evaluators are confident that Arias will be an average-or-better hitter with a chance to reach homer totals in the mid-teens or higher.'
'I think right now he definitely can hit balls hard enough to consistently get extra-base hits,' Fasone said. 'But I think the big thing for him is just getting the ball in the air enough to give himself opportunities to do that. And I think that comes with some time and maturity and I think understanding how pitchers are attacking him and being comfortable as the season goes on kind of swinging for the fences when we have the right opportunity. So I think it's more of an approach thing and just kind of getting the ball in the air a little bit more.'
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Arias has struck out in just 7.2% of his 125 plate appearances at Greenville.
'His bat-to-ball skills are really high,' Fasone said. 'And I think he's leveraged that very well so far. Being able to trust himself, taking shots early in the count and still having the ability to kind of battle with two strikes and know he is not gonna strike out as much as he's gonna get a hit or at least get a ball in play.'
Fasone described Arias as being able to 'pick his spots.'
'He can take a pitch on the black and hit a line drive over the infield,' Fasone said. 'And then there's other times that he gets into an advantage count and can take a shot for something to the pull side. There's obviously always things we can continue to improve on. But I think his ability to turn it down and find his hits and then turn it up when the situation calls for it is kinda how I describe him.'
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Fasone said he sees 'continued improvement' from Arias.
'I think the most impressive thing just watching him and being around him every day is his maturity level and his professionalism around the ballpark,' Fasone said. 'You hang out with him and you wouldn't guess he's 19. He goes about his business in a professional manner and knows what he needs to work on and is constantly looking to find ways to improve. I think it says a lot about him at 19 to be able to do all that.'
Arias' professionalism is something that assistant GM Eddie Romero also pointed out unsolicited last September. The teenager's preparation and instincts helped him win 2024 Red Sox minor league Base Runner of the Year award (35-for-41 in stolen base attempts) despite not having blazing speed.
Romero said back then, 'I don't think he's a plus runner by any means. I think he's got good speed, and he's very advanced at timing things, taking advantage and preparing before the game. He's just got a very mature way about going into it for his pregame. He'll know pitcher moves. He'll know catcher arm strength. I think he's advanced in that area. He's got good speed. He's not a Jarren Duran. But I think it's that he uses his IQ to help him steal a lot of bases.'
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Read the original article on MassLive.
