Red Sox shortstop prospect Franklin Arias is ranked No. 3 overall on Keith Law’s latest top 50 MLB prospect list released Thursday for The Athletic.
The 20-year-old Venezuela native is dominating Double-A pitching. He is batting .343 with a .415 on-base percentage, .664 slugging percentage and 1.079 OPS in 38 games (164 plate appearances) for the Sea Dogs.
He leads all Red Sox minor leaguers with 12 home runs. He also has eight doubles, one triple, 31 RBIs and 29 runs.
Law ranks only Brewers shortstop prospect Jesús Made and Athletics shortstop prospect Leo De Vries ahead of Arias.
Law wrote, “Arias has already set a new career high in homers, … but more impressive is how difficult it has been to strike him out: he has just 19 strikeouts on the season, a 12.3 percent rate, with a whiff rate on pitches in the zone of just 13 percent this year. Arias is very likely to stick at shortstop with excellent hands and a plus arm, with 25+ homer upside.”
Arias had never hit more than nine home runs in any minor league season, but he gained at least nine pounds in the offseason. The two biggest goals entering this past offseason were adding weight and hitting the ball in the air more consistently.
Law ranks 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Anthony Eyanson No. 21.
Eyanson has a 1.35 ERA in eight starts between High-A and Double-A this season. He was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for May 18-24.
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