The Sox might have something here with 25 year old left handed pitcher Jake Bennett. He was a second round pick by the Washington Nationals back in 2022 and seemed on the fast track to the majors when he dominated single A to start 2023. Then he was called up to the Harrisburg Senators and went 1-3 before having season ending Tommy John surgery. He missed all of 2024 and came back like a house of fire in 2025. Through all three levels from Single A to Triple A he went 2-5 with a 2.27 ERA in 18 starts. The Sox thought so highly of him they traded Luis Perales for him back in December. If his arm holds out, he could potentially be a major league pitcher by the end of this year or at least the ace of Worcester. Time will tell.
With the number of 2021 draft picks dwindling, one that remained was right handed pitcher Tyler Uberstine. Drafted in the 19th round, he was 5-5 with a 3.83 ERA for the Salem Red Sox and Greenville Drive in 2022 but needed Tommy John surgery in 2023. He made a cameo at the end of 2024 and returned to full duty in 2025. He was 6-5 with a 3.58 ERA between the Portland Sea Dogs and Worcester Red Sox and is going to turn 27 in June of this season. He's not a flamethrower compared to some of the other prospects but he does hit 95 on the gun. Still, for a 19th round pick that pitched badly for Northwestern in 2021, making it this far was a miracle in itself.
The Boston Red Sox number 1 rated prospect would probably be in the majors right now if the Sox didn't trade for Ranger Suarez just before Spring Training. As it is, the 23 year old will spend 2026 in Worcester to start. Tolle was drafted in the second round back in 2024 and lived up to his billing in his first pro season. He was 1-3 with a 3.62 ERA to start the season in Greenville before utterly dominating Portland, going 1-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 5 starts. Mostly due to injuries, they had to promote Tolle to the majors to finish out September where he struggled, going 0-1 with a 6.06 ERA in 7 games. With the pressure off, the Sox are going to see how he does in Worcester since he skipped it last year. He still hits 98 on the gun and hopefully will be brought along slowly. You never know when injuries will put him back in Boston.
The Sox signed journeyman minor league reliever TJ Sikkema in January to basically fill out the Worcester roster. He was drafted all the way back in 2019 by the New York Yankees and allowed just 1 run in 10 innings to finish 2019 in Staten Island. Covid wiped out 2020 and he didn't pitch in 2021. In 2022, he was shipped off to the Kansas City Royals for none other than old pal Andrew Benintendi. His 2022-23 seasons for KC's AA team were awful going 4-9 with an ERA over 6 combined. Then he went to Cincinnati and had a surprisingly good 2024 going 6-3 with a 3.61 ERA between A and AA. Last year he started in AA but finished with the AAA Louisville Bats going 2-1 with a 3.47 ERA. Maybe he's a late bloomer but whatever the case, he's not straight up batting practice anymore. Still, he's your classic journeyman junkballer. Some days he's on, some days he's off. It would be a remarkable story if Sikkema goes from not being able to get AA batters out to making his ML debut with the Red Sox. It also wouldn't be surprising if he stayed in AAA all year.
Speaking of journeymen, one of the holdovers from last year's Worcester staff is 26 year old right handed junkballer Jack Anderson. He was drafted in the 16th round back in 2021 by the Detroit Tigers and washed out, culminating in allowing 11 runs in 17 innings for the Toledo Mud Hens in 2024. Last year he went 2-5 with a 3.58 ERA for Portland before allowing 14 runs in 11 innings for Worcester. The word on him is he doesn't miss many bats and he's strictly depth. Once once of Craig Breslow's power arms gets to AAA, it could be curtains for Jack.
The Sox won't have the services of 26 year old right handed pitcher Osvaldo Berrios for a while as he's going to start the season on the 60 day Injured List. All you need to know about Berrios is his minor league career stats are 23-34 with a 5.44 ERA going back to 2017. Last year he allowed 16 runs in 14 innings for the Memphis Redbirds in the St. Louis Cardinals organization and his best stretch was going 2-3 with a 2.34 ERA in Single A in 2024. Either Craig Breslow completely cheaped out by signing a journeyman like this or he honestly thinks they can fix them. One way or another it'll work itself out.
Another guy starting the season on the Injured List is 29 year old career minor leaguer Alex Gamboa. Taken by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2019 draft, he's spent the last 3 years with the Oklahoma City Comets and a stint in Korea. His stats with Oklahoma City were 5-12 with an ERA over 4 so he's not even a fringe prospect at this point. Once again this might be a case of Breslow going "I can fix him" since control has been his biggest issue.
The Sox finally signed a guy with major league experience when they picked up 35 year old right handed pitcher Tayron Guerrero in January. He made his ML debut in 2016 with the San Diego Padres then pitched in 112 games with the Miami Marlins between 2018-19. His stats were awful, and just got worse. He washed out in 2024 going 1-3 with a 5.73 ERA for the Salt Lake Bees then spent last year in Japan where he was 1-3 with a 6.41 ERA. Clearly he's all washed up but for whatever reason they signed him anyway. If nothing else, he's holding a roster spot until someone from Portland takes it or one of their injured pitchers returns.
Another guy starting the season on the 60 day Injured List is right handed pitcher Hobie Harris. Drafted by the New York Yankees in 2015, he got as high as Double A before they cut their losses after 2019. In 2023 despite going 2-3 with a 5.57 ERA for the Rochester Red Wings, he had a 15 game cup of coffee with the Washington Nationals. He was batting practice for the St. Paul Saints in 2024 and was mediocre for Worcester last year going 1-3 with a 4.15 ERA. If he pitches this year, don't expect great things out of him.
To put an exclamation point of how seriously cheap the Sox have been, they went and signed a pitcher who hadn't pitched in the United States in 5 years. 32 year old Kyle Keller was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2015 and made his ML debut with them in 2019. He actually pitched in 2 games with the world champion LA Dodgers in 2020 and got in 31 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021. He then spent the last four years pitching in Japan. He did pretty well in Japan so that should translate to success at the Triple A level right?...........right?
Poor Zack Kelly. He was signed in 2022 and looked to have a breakout season in 2023 but hurt his arm and was lost for the season. He had a decent season in 2024 going 6-3 with a 3.97 ERA for Boston but last year struggled going 1-3 with a 4.58 ERA. The training camp battle between Connelly Early and Johan Oviedo pretty much made Kelly expendable for now. The back end of the bullpen will once again be Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten so Kelly is going to start the year in AAA. This definitely won't last long as injuries are a given every year. Just a question of when Kelly gets the call.
Talk about a career freefall for 36 year old Tommy Kahnle. He was a standout reliever for the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers between 2019 and 2024, but last year at age 35 looked to have fallen off the cliff. He was 1-5 with a 4.43 ERA for the Detroit Tigers but the Sox are looking to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Aroldis Chapman had one of the best seasons for any reliever last year and the hope is Kahnle can do it as well this year. He got cut in Spring Training due to the previously mentioned fifth starter battle so its just a matter of time before he gets the call. Hopefully last year was just a hiccup.
If there was ever a classic 4-A player, it would be 31 year old right handed pitcher Seth Martinez. He was up and down between the Houston Astros and Sugar Land Space Cowboys between 2021-24 including snaring a World Series ring in 2022 after posting a 2.09 ERA in 29 games. In 2024, he was 3-2 with a 3.59 ERA for the Astros before spending last year with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. He did have a 6 game cup of coffee with the Miami Marlins but went 3-2 with a 3.71 ERA for the Shrimp. Bottom line is he's emergency depth in case someone goes down since he does have ML experience. He should be damn good for the WooSox at least.
Its now or never for 26 year old right handed pitcher Wyatt Olds. For all intents and purposes Olds has no business being here. He had a lousy senior year for Oklahoma University in 2021 before being drafted in the 7th round. He was straight batting practice from 2022-24 before having 8 games of success with Portland to start 2025. Then he was straight batting practice for Worcester going 3-2 with a 5.91 ERA out of the bullpen. You can't really expect anything different when he wasn't even good when they drafted him. With so many other ppl released from the 2021-23 draft classes, its a wonder what they see in him to keep him around.
26 year old lefty pitcher Tyler Samaniego was the "throw-in" in the trade that brought Johan Oviedo to Boston. He was 1-1 with a 3.08 ERA for the Altoona Curve last year and now he's going to start the year in AAA where he's never pitched before. He can hit 97 on the gun but the problem is his secondary pitches get hit. Someone better teach him better mechanics in Worcester this year.
The last of the Lowell Spinners, 28 year old right handed pitcher Noah Song has had quite the life journey. After 4 years in Annapolis, he was drafted by the Red Sox and made 7 strong starts to end the season in Lowell. Then he was sent to flight school to become an actual Top Gun before getting nabbed by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. In 2023, he suffered a bad back injury that limited him to just 4 games before he was sent back to the Red Sox in August. Then in April of 2024 he had Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2024 season and he was merely average for Portland last season. This year he's supposedly fully healthy so FINALLY we might see the promise he showed 7 years ago.
Speaking of career journeyman, the Sox signed 29 year old right handed pitcher Devin Sweet in December. He was an undrafted rookie free agent that worked his way up the ladder in the Seattle Mariners system and made his ML debut in 2023 for the Mariners before ending the season with the Oakland A's. He spent 2024 with the Toledo Mud Hens and 2025 with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, not finding much success. He's just hanging on at this point and is just a depth piece until someone from Portland steps up.
For a while it looked like 27 year old Jacob Webb would be the first of the 2021 draft class to reach the majors. He allowed 1 run in 10 innings to end 2021 for the Salem Red Sox then went 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA for Greenville in 2022 to earn a call up to Portland. Then his career stalled out. He was 18-6 in 2023 and 2024 combined with Portland but with a 4.50 ERA. Last year he allowed 8 runs in 11 innings to finish the season in Worcester. Just like Wyatt Olds, its now or never for Webb with plenty of hard throwing kids from the 2024 and 2025 draft classes on their way.
Talk about a late bloomer. 24 year old right handed pitcher Reidis Sena was originally a Dominican teenager signed in the 2018 off-season and was batting practice for the 2022 Salem Red Sox. He seemed to have figured out Salem in 2023 but got eaten alive at the High A level in Greenville. In 2024 he conquered Greenville but fell flat in Portland. Last year he was 5-2 with a 3.46 ERA for Portland so using pattern recognition, he's going to totally suck in Worcester this year but dominate next year. See you in 2027! In all seriousness, he does hit 98 on the gun but suffers from Kaleb Ort Disease where it doesn't have much movement. If he learns movement and control, he'd be devastating.
We got a familiar face behind the plate to start the year in Worcester, 30 year old catcher Matt Thaiss. Originally drafted out of high school by the Red Sox in 2013 believe it or not (he didn't sign), Thaiss made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2019. He was their backup catcher all the way to 2024 when he moved on to the Chicago White Sox, then Tampa Bay Rays in 2025. Why is he in AAA? He can't hit for beans. His career MLB batting average is .210 with just 23 home runs. He's a good defensive catcher but offense is another story. Still, better to keep runs off the board than to be a Dr. Strangeglove. If Connor Wong has a start to the 2026 season rival to last year, he might see Boston sooner rather than later.
Guess who's back, back again. Career minor leaguer Mickey Gasper tore through Portland and Worcester in 2024 to earn a cup of coffee with the Red Sox where he.....failed to get a hit in 18 at-bats. Moving on to Minnesota in 2025, he hit .285 with 10 home runs for the St. Paul Saints before getting a cup of coffee with the Twins. This time he hit a whopping .158 with 15 hits in 95 at-bats. He was primarily a catcher his whole career but now that he's 30, he'll be spending time at first base. If nothing else, he should have a good season in AAA.
The byproduct of former Sox GM Chaim Bloom drafting shortstops in the first round of the draft 3 years in a row is it created a log-jam in the minors with Xander Bogaerts and then Trevor Story in the majors. Romero was drafted in the first round out of high school in 2022 and played in just 26 games due to injuries in 2023. In 2024 he played in just 75 but at least hit 16 home runs between Greenville and Portland. He got in 111 games between Portland and Worcester last year and hit .245 with 17 home runs and 76 rbis. He might be coming into his own and all it takes is Marcelo Mayer and Trevor Story to get hurt again for him to make his ML debut. He just turned 22 so he still has time to show what he can do.
Another classic 4A player is 28 year old infielder Nick Sogard. Acquired in a minor league trade with the Tampa Bay Rays prior to the 2021 season, Sogard worked hard enough to rise through the minors. He hit .254 between Portland and Worcester before spending all of 2023 in Worcester hitting .266. He looked to have figured it out in 2024 when he hit .283 with 13 home runs to earn a call up to Boston. He hit .273 in 31 games but started 2025 in Worcester. Due to injuries he got a 30 game stretch in Boston where he hit .260. He's a good spark plug but usually only gets the call when someone goes down or gets traded. You hope you never see him in the Majors but he's not the worst option if he's there.
Just when you thought Worcester didn't have enough shortstops between Sogard and Romero, the Sox picked up 24 year old Tsung-Che Cheng from the Pittsburgh Pirates mere weeks before the season started. He was the Altoona Curve starting shortstop in 2024 where he hit .218 but with 11 home runs. Last year he was hitting .209 with the Indianapolis Indians but got a 3 game cup of coffee with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, like Gasper in Boston, he didn't get his first major league hit. He was placed on waivers by Pittsburgh in Spring Training and the Sox picked him up. Maybe he'll get the call instead of Romero and get his first ML hit this year.....you never know.
Remember in the off-season when Sox GM Craig Breslow unloaded a bunch of major league players to save money with cheaper, low level prospects. The Sox sent Brennan Bernardino to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for 27 year old outfielding prospect Braiden Ward. Ward was drafted by the Rockies in 2021 but never really broke out. He hit .272 between Low and High A in 2022 but just .265 for Spokane in 2023. He hit .269 with 7 home runs between Spokane and the Hartford Yard Goats. He did manage to show some promise in 2025 hitting .331 in 44 games for the Albuquerque Isotopes. Maybe he'll be a surprise this year God forbid someone in the Boston outfield goes down or gets traded. Was he worth trading Bernardino for? Time will tell.
What a sad story Kristian Campbell turned out to be. Drafted in the 4th round back in 2023 with the pick given to the Sox as compensation for losing Xander Bogaerts, Campbell blitzed through the minors in 2024 and pulled a 2013 Jackie Bradley Jr to hit his way onto the opening day roster in 2025. Campbell and Wilyer Abreu almost singlehandedly carried the Sox offense with Kristian earning AL Rookie of the Month honors in April. Then he completely fell apart and was sent down to Worcester in June. He did hit .273 with 8 home runs but never got back to the majors even with the September call ups. To make matters worse, he was cut on March 21 and will start the year in AAA. He's only 23 years old and just needs to re-adjust to get going again. If he starts tearing up AAA pitching he might be back sooner than later. Otherwise, because Breslow signed him to a superstar extension, his contract scares off potential trade targets. He better hit or he'll be like Jordan Hicks and Rafael Devers, another salary dump.
Speaking of meteoric rises through the organization, 22 year old Allan Castro might be the next one. He was signed as a 16 year old Dominican teenager by Dave Dombrowski in 2019 and hit .261 with 7 home runs between Salem and Greenville in 2023. In 2024 he hit .229 but with 15 home runs, mostly with Greenville. In 2025 he hit .268 with 7 home runs for Portland and will start this year in Worcester. If Kristian Campbell could make the show at 22, Castro might be the next one. Either that or could be trade bait like The Password.
Another man who will start the year on the 60 day Injured List is 28 year old outfielder Matt Frazier. He was drafted in the 3rd round in the 2019 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and hit .314 with 20 home runs for the Greensboro Grasshoppers to win the South Atlantic League MVP award. It was downhill from there as he hit .219 for the Altoona Curve in 2022 and just .252 with 8 home runs in 2023. In 2024 he was limited to just 45 games for the Indianapolis Indians but did hit .305 in 62 games for Indianapolis last year. If he gets healthy maybe he'll rediscover the form he had in 2021. Probably not but it would be fun to watch.
Ironically just two players remain from the 2020 draft and rookie free agent pool. 23 year old catcher Juan Montero is one of them. The problem is he could never stay on the field. Injuries and inexperience limited him to just 37 games between 2021 and 2023. In 2024 he hit just .200 with 1 home run between Salem and Greenville and in 2025 he played in just 26 games hitting just .188 between Greenville and Portland. Why the hell he's on the AAA development list is anyone's guess but if he can't hit the broad sign of the barn at the lower levels, how is he going to do it in Worcester? We'll see how this turns out.
One of the reasons Montero might not see the field is the WooSox are currently carrying FOUR other catchers. One of them is at first base but the point is the depth. One of the depth pieces is 30 year old journeyman catcher Jason Delay. Jason was drafted in the 4th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2017 and made his ML debut with a 55 game stretch in 2022 for the Pirates. He hit .251 in 70 games for the Pirates in 2023 but was back with the Indianapolis Indians in 2024. Last year he hit just .215 in 60 games for the Gwinnett Stripers before signing as a minor league free agent with Boston. Amazing how quickly guys can lose it. Just 3 years ago he was playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates and now he's the third string catcher on the Worcester Red Sox. Still, having a guy with ML experience is good for depth.
Its another now or never situation for 26 year old catcher turned first baseman Nathan Hickey. Drafted in the 5th round as a catcher in 2021, he looked to be having a breakout season in 2022 hitting .263 with 16 home runs between Salem and Greenville. He looked to be the future Sox catcher when Christian Vazquez was traded at the 2022 deadline and he hit .258 with 15 home runs for Portland in 2023. The problem was the Sox drafted Kyle Teel in the first round in 2023 and Hickey had a miserable season in 2024, hitting just .209 with 13 home runs between Portland and Worcester. After the Sox traded Teel in the Garrett Crochet package, the catching position was right there in 2025 with Connor Wong not being able to hit at all. Instead Hickey hit .234 but did manage 17 home runs. With the injury to Triston Casas and trade of Niko Kavadas at the 2024 trade deadline, first base became dangerously thin so Hickey was told to give up the catcher's mitt for a first baseman glove. As long as he can hit the long ball, and if Casas takes forever to come back from knee surgery, he might make his ML debut this season after all.
If there ever was a victim of the numbers game, its 29 year old infielder Nate Eaton. The speedy infielder had cups of coffee in 2022 and 2023 with the Kansas City Royals although he fell flat in 2023. In 2025 he got called up to the Red Sox and was one of the surprise players on their march toward October. He played in 41 games and hit .296 with 9 stolen bases. The problem was he was playing mostly due to injuries to key guys and a lot of them are back this year, which sends Eaton to Worcester to start. He's too good to stay here so he either will be back in Boston when an injury pops up or he could be trade bait. He can fly on the bases so his services will definitely be needed somewhere.
UTL - Vinny Capra
UTL - Matt Lloyd
Speaking of 4A guys, the Sox signed 29 year old utility infielder Vinny Capra in the off-season. Capra was 20th round draft pick in 2018 by the Toronto Blue Jays and hit .327 with 10 home runs for the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2021. He did make his ML debut in 2022 with the Blue Jays with 1 hit in 5 at-bats. He moved on to the Pittsburgh Pirates where he did get in 9 games for Pittsburgh in 2023 although he spent the majority of the season with the Indianapolis Indians. In 2024 it was the same story as he got in 3 games with the Milwaukee Brewers with 110 games for the Nashville Sounds. Last year he played 47 games between the Brewers and Chicago White Sox and hit a whopping .125. He clearly can't hit at the major league level but can do just enough in AAA to keep a job. Definitely a good glove man and defense is always appreciated, especially by the pitcher and manager.
Rounding out the roster is 30 year old utility infielder Matt Lloyd. The Sox picked him up in this past Rule 5 Draft after he originally washed out with the Cincinnati Reds in 2022. After spending 2023 in the independent league, he resurfaced in 2024 with the St. Louis Cardinals AA club Springfield Cardinals hitting .269 with 17 home runs. He only played in 78 games for the AAA Memphis Redbirds but hit .272 with 8 home runs. If he can stay healthy, that's not bad for a utility infielder. Hitting 25 home runs between AA and AAA is nothing to sneeze at if you don't have too high standards. Hopefully that power comes to Worcester in 2026.
That will do it for the roster preview. Its definitely going to be an interesting year with a lot of pressure on some key guys. Peyton Tolle, Zack Kelly, Nick Sogard, Mickey Gasper, Tommy Kahnle, Matt Thaiss, Nate Eaton and Kristian Campbell want to get back to the show while some older prospects like Noah Song, Jacob Webb, Nathan Hickey, Tyler Uberstine and Wyatt Olds want to get that cup of coffee. Then there's guys like Mikey Romeo, Jake Bennett and Braiden Ward who would have already made it if it wasn't for the numbers game. Still, things tend to work themselves out so with a lot of talent coming and going, it'll be a fun season for sure. The Boston Red Sox are back in action tomorrow afternoon when Sonny Gray makes his Sox debut against Brady Singer of Cincinnati. The game begins at 4:10 PM at Great American Ballpark.
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