Baseball Prospectus ranks four Red Sox prospects on their top 101 list

On Wednesday, Baseball America released their annual preseason top 100 prospects list for the best prospects in all of baseball, and the Boston Red Sox had better representation than they’ve had in years with four players making the list including three in the top third. Well, we didn’t have to wait too long for another top 100 list to drop. On Thursday, Baseball Prospectus released their top 101 list, and the same four prospects are included, just in different spots. The list itself is free for all, but they have some interesting companion pieces that require a subscription, which I would certainly recommend.

As for the list itself and Red Sox prospects specifically, once again Marcelo Mayer finds himself atop Boston prospects. He is a couple spots behind the number 15 slot he landed in on BA’s list, but BP puts him at number 17. The young shortstop is ranked between Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña and Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Henry Davis. The latter was, of course, the top pick in last year’s draft in which Mayer was selected fourth. Mayer is again the top-ranked prospect from last summer’s draft class.

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In the BA list, as mentioned above, Boston had two other prospects in the top 33. Here, though, Mayer is the only Red Sox prospect in that range. Also diverging a bit from BA, BP has Nick Yorke as the number two prospect in the system, coming in at number 40 compared to 31 on the BA list. Yorke, who had one of the biggest breakouts in the game among prospects in 2021, ranks between Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz and Philadelphia Phillies right-handed pitcher Mick Abel. The pairing with Abel is particularly interesting because many, myself included, were hoping the Red Sox would select Abel in the first round in the 2020 draft. He was snagged before Boston could grab him, but it seems both teams should be happy with their selection.

The biggest divergence from the BA list to this BP list is with Triston Casas. Interestingly, it is starting to seem like most Red Sox-specific analysts have Casas ranked as the top prospects where the national opinion seems to be siding with Mayer. On BA’s list, the two were so close that the difference was essentially meaningless. Here, though, Casas is down to number 44 compared to 19 on BA’s list. Casas is ranked between Cleveland Guardians right-handed pitcher Daniel Espino and Miami Marlins shortstop Khalil Watson.

Finally, the one Red Sox prospect who saw a little bit of a bump up from their BA ranking is Jarren Duran, who is still in the back portion of the list but up from 91 on BA’s list to 81 on BP’s. Duran ranks between Baltimore Orioles left-handed pitcher D.L. Hall and Phillies right-handed pitcher Andrew Painter.