Red Sox Land Top 10 Farm System Ranking From The Athletic

Farm system rankings are both fun and hilarious to argue about, because how much do they really matter?

On one hand, the Boston Red Sox's farm system is "weaker" than most would agree it was last year, when young superstar Roman Anthony had yet to debut in the majors. But Boston has also taken massive strides in terms of young pitching development in the past couple of seasons, and it's clearly paying off.

There's also the question of how much having a top farm system should matter to the Red Sox. Spendng more on payroll and trading more prospects to land established stars might placate the fan base. Then again, the Los Angeles Dodgers always seem to have a higher-ranked farm system than Boston.

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Red Sox in 'Tier 3' of Keith Law's rankings

Aug 29, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Payton Tolle (70) pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

On Thursday, Keith Law of The Athletic put out his annual farm system rankings, and after the expert gave Boston the No. 10 spot out of 30 teams, Red Sox fans should feel as though their team's future is relatively secure.

"For several years, I had the Red Sox rated a little lower than perhaps their fans wanted, because there was no pitching at all in the system," wrote Law.

"Now they’re a pitching development powerhouse, with two left-handed starters on the top 100 who made enormous strides in 2025, while they’ve graduated their big three hitting prospects, so their system is now extremely pitching-heavy. That’s not a bad thing, just an interesting 180 in such a short span."

The Red Sox have also emptied out the farm a bit, trading highly touted prospects like outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia and pitchers Brandon Clarke and Yhoiker Fajardo this winter to land big-leaguers Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo, and Willson Contreras.

Law also ranked four Red Sox prospects in his individual Top 100: shortstop Franklin Arias at No. 12, lefty Payton Tolle at 40, righty Kyson Witherspoon at 62, and lefty Connelly Early at 64.

All things considered, Boston has built a relatively sustainable roster, and the main complaints fans could justifiably have right now would be about lacking one more big-league infielder, not the state of the farm system.

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