Could the Boston Red Sox Find the Next Marcelo Mayer or Roman Anthony in MLB Draft?

With more than $12 million in bonus slot money, the Red Sox will have some leeway to take some chances in the looming draft.

WooSox outfielder Roman Anthony makes a catch during a game on April 9, 2025, at Polar Park. | WooSox Photo/Ashley Green / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox have some of the very best prospects in baseball, and they'll have solid opportunities to add to that group this year in the MLB Draft.

Major League Baseball announced the draft slot bonuses for each team on Wednesday, with the Red Sox having more than $12.4 million to spend over the first 10 rounds.

MLB released Draft slots & bonus pools tonight. They're up 4.8 percent from a year ago. The Nationals' No. 1 overall pick is valued at a record $11,075,900, while the Mariners have the largest pool at $17,074,400. Pools are below, should have a story up at @MLBPipeline in a bit. pic.twitter.com/fzyqcbv3Ew

— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) April 24, 2025

This is all fairly layered, so let's take a step back for a moment and understand what it all means.

First: every pick in the top 10 rounds is given an assigned "slot value." Players can be signed for more or less than their assigned slot value, but teams can't go over their bonus pool number, not without penalty anyways. This applies for the top ten rounds of the draft, as rounds 11-20 are (mostly) governed by a different set of monetary rules.

Next, a team's bonus is calculated by adding up the slot values of the team's draft choices in the top ten rounds.

After missing the playoffs in 2024, the Red Sox are picking No. 15 in the first round, and they picked up the No. 33 pick through a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. Boston also got pick No. 75 for losing Nick Pivetta in free agency. They offered him a qualifying offer but he signed with the San Diego Padres.

Because the Red Sox have a good amount of money available, they'll be able to take some chances in the draft. For instance, selecting high school players comes with real risk, because they can always attend college if they don't like the offer. As a result, the Sox will have the ability to up the offer in a way that some teams won't, and they can essentially buy a high school player out of a college commitment.

The Red Sox took Marcelo Mayer No. 3 overall in 2021 and drafted Roman Anthony in the second round in 2022. Can they find another star prospect this year?

The draft begins July 13.

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