Promising Starts: Five Red Sox Prospects Heating Up Early

April 22, 2024 Adam Greene AL East, General, MiLB, Red Sox 0

Marcelo Mayer, Boston Red Sox, Spring Breakout, March 16, 2024. Photo credit Benjamin Rush, @BenRushPhoto on Twitter and @BenRushPhoto on Instagram
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The MiLB season has begun, and with the start to a new year comes a chance to see how an organization’s prospects are progressing at all levels. Now, about two weeks into games, we can start to see who’s making an impact for their team. From Tier 1 prospects to others who aren’t currently ranked, there are prospects across the country having great starts to the young season. This is a look at five Red Sox prospects who have impressed in the opening to 2024 at each of the four affiliates.


Jhostynxon Garcia, OF and Johanfran Garcia, C
Single-A Salem Red Sox

A quick search of individual stat leaders for Salem will show why the Garcia brothers are listed together. In virtually every category, Jhostynxon and Johanfran are at the top; instead of picking between the two, why not include both? Through the first eleven games of the year, both had twelve hits and two homers. Jhostynxon is now batting .325 with a 1.001 OPS, and also has stole ten bases. Johanfran is batting .333 with a .976 OPS. He’s posted an insane .480 BABIP, but the quality of contract he’s been making is still really good. Both have seemingly taken huge strides, and can hopefully keep up the offensive production.

Behind the plate, Johanfran has looked good, already gunning down six stolen base attempts. Improvement to the defense will only boost his stock with how hot the bat is at the moment. Jhostynxon’s athleticism has allowed him to play centerfield, not to mention Boston has a relatively weaker outfield prospect pool than they have in previous years. He could be moved to right field full time though, and has already played about half of his innings there. It’s still very early, but if the brothers continue hitting anywhere close to how they are now, Jhostynxon with a 184 wRC+ and Johanfran with a 178 wRC+, they could both make a case to move up on the midseason top 50.

Connelly Early, LHP
High-A Greenville Drive

Admittedly, it was difficult to definitively pick someone from Greenville. Bryan Gonzalez, Caden Rose, and Kristian Campbell have all had good offensive starts, but there’s no singular hitter that stands out. Quietly though, Connelly Early has put together a few very nice starts to begin the season. Coming out of UVA, the 6 ‘3 lefty has struck out eighteen in his three appearances; only allowing three runs so far in twelve and a third innings (one through the first nine). Early is pounding the zone too, generating 27 whiffs already with a 64% and 65% strike percentage in his first two outings.

It’s obviously way too soon to tell what Early’s body of work throughout the season will look like, but for someone who averaged between a 2-4 K/BB ratio in college, a 9 K/BB is very encouraging to see. Contrastingly, he’d been great at limiting hard contact and home runs at Virginia, and it seems that trend has carried over to the pros. Again, it’s tough to judge a pitcher based on two outings in April, but it’s possible we could see Early paired back up with his college battery teammate Kyle Teel in Portland.

Marcelo Mayer, SS
Double-A Portland Sea Dogs

Here’s one pick that no one saw coming: Red Sox top prospect, Marcelo Mayer. In all seriousness, this should come as a surprise to no one. When the news broke that Mayer was healthy coming into spring, many Red Sox fans not only hoped but expected Mayer to get back to form, looking like he did prior to the shoulder subluxation. That is exactly what’s happened to begin 2024, as Mayer began the season on a ten game hit streak. Over that stretch, he slashed .366/.386/.512/.899; this included a walk-off single in the last game of the hit streak.

Mayer crushed a 427’ foot homer, his first since July 2nd last year. He went a full calendar month without another before being shut down, but it’s looking more and more like his pop is back. With the major league’s team shortstop woes, it’s all the more encouraging seeing his defense at short appear smooth and seamless. Additionally, he’s stolen a pair of bases, hinting he’ll be slightly more aggressive on the basepaths after the drop off in steals last year. A final note, but rushing Mayer to the majors in light of the Trevor Story injury wouldn’t be a smart idea. If he’s going to be a staple of the team for years to come, the organization should and will allow him to develop in the minors until they are sure he’s major league ready. Until then, he’ll continue dominating the minor leagues.

Jorge Benitez, LHP
Triple-A Worcester Red Sox

The Red Sox pitching staff has already been decimated by injuries, so in all likelihood Benitez could get the call to Boston sooner than later. Boston signed the southpaw to a minor league contract back in November, and he clearly impressed during Spring Training getting specifically praised by manager Alex Cora multiple times. Through four relief appearances to start the season, Benitez has posted a 0.82 ERA, allowing just three hits (one home run) in eleven innings.

Benitez has been extremely reliable out the bullpen for Worcester, and for a system that desperately lacks left handed pitching depth, he’s been somewhat of a bright spot. Taking a flier on the former Mariners prospect has seemingly paid off for the Sox. Along with his run/hit prevention, Benitez has struck out batters at a 10.6 K/9 clip with a 0.91 WHIP. It’s fair to wonder how much you can contribute his early success to the new pitching development regime, but regardless, the results speak for themselves. With small improvements to his arsenal, mainly the amount of strikes he throws, Benitez could turn into a solid bullpen option for the big league squad. And as mentioned before with the recent injuries sustained by the team, Benitez could be making his major league debut very soon.

Adam Greene

Adam Greene is a Sport Management and Marketing double major at UMass Amherst's Isenberg School of Management. His main focus is sport marketing, where he's already had internships with the local Westfield Starfires and Springfield Thunderbirds. He now writes for the Cape Cod Baseball League. From Longmeadow, MA, Adam is a huge Red Sox fan and has been following the team his whole life. When Covid hit, he started paying a lot more attention to the Red Sox minor league teams, and now, follows them almost as much as the big league squad. Follow him on Twitter at @aj_greene1015 and Instagram at the same handle.

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