Today is an off-day and for the first time ever, we're going to take a look back....way back...to the Boston Red Sox 2019 MLB draft. Before 2020 there were FORTY rounds and it would be way too long to go through all of the selections. However we're going to take a look at some of the names you might recognize, even if they didn't make their careers in Boston. So let's see some of the highlights of Dave Dombrowski's last draft before getting the axe in September 2019.
2nd Round - INF Cam Cannon
Famously the Sox didn't have a first round pick in 2019 because they were over the Luxury Tax and MLB rolled a 20 on Smite. Their first pick was in the second round 43rd overall, infielder Cam Cannon. Why take him? He hit 8 home runs and hit .397 his senior year for Arizona State....just like another fella named Dustin Pedroia who had retired back in April of 2019. He looked to have a breakout in 2021 where he hit .302 with 8 home runs for the Greenville Drive in 2021 before getting a late call up to the Portland Sea Dogs where he tacked on 3 more home runs. In 2022 he played in just 51 games where he hit .245 between Florida Complex, Portland and Worcester. He was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in the Rule 5 Draft and hit .206 in 46 games for the Reading Fighting Phillies before being released. Unfortunately this was a wasted pick since he never got to the show and to add insult to injury, he was chosen ONE pick after the Orioles took Gunnar Henderson. 3 picks after Cannon, the Miami Marlins drafted Nasim Nunez who may not be hitting well for the Washington Nationals but does have 20 stolen bases this year. The Cincinnatti Reds also picked up Rece Hinds and Brandon Williamson with two picks in the second round after Cannon was taken. After spending a few years in the indy leagues, now he's a highly recommended real estate agent. If you need a house in Arizona, give Cam a call.
2nd Round - INF Matthew Lugo
The good news was Boston's other second round pick made the Majors....bad news was it wasn't with Boston. Infielder Matthew Lugo was a can't miss kid out of Beltran Academy in Puerto Rico....owned by his uncle Carlos Beltran. In 2022 Lugo broke out with 18 home runs, 78 rbis and a .288 batting average for the Greenville Drive. He was limited to just 83 games with Portland in 2023 but was on the verge of a breakout in 2024. He hit .315 with 11 home runs to get the call to Worcester where he was hitting .250 with 5 home runs. Then Sox GM Craig Breslow idiotically sent Ryan Zeferjahn, Niko Kavadas, Lugo and Yeferson Vargas to the Los Angeles Angels for relief pitcher Luis Garcia. Garcia sucked in Boston while Lugo, Kavadas and Zeferjahn all made their ML debuts with the Angels. Lugo played in 31 games for the Angels last year but shockingly got demoted this year. He's not even playing in AAA, the 25 year old is with the Rocket City Trash Pandas in AA. Still, if those 31 games is all he ever plays, that's more than other guys taken in the second round ever played. Bet the Sox wish they had that trade back.
3rd Round - RHP Ryan Zeferjahn
Speaking of right handed pitcher Ryan Zeferjahn, he was taken in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Kansas University. It looked like a bad pick when he was batting practice for the Salem Red Sox in 2021 and the Greenville Drive in 2022....but got a 6 game callup to Portland at the end of 2022 going 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA. That looked like a fluke when he was 0-4 with a 5.02 ERA in 2023 for Portland but only allowed 2 runs in 13 innings to start 2024. He was promoted to Worcester where he was 0-3 with a 5.47 ERA when he was traded in the package for Luis Garcia. It looked like no big loss but then suddenly he was promoted to make his ML debut with the Angels. He posted a 2.12 ERA to end 2024 and went 6-5 with a 4.74 ERA out of the bullpen last year. This year he's 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA and while those may not be eye popping stats, at least he's in the show. He's not selling real estate or in Double A like the previous two. Even though he showed no promise with the Sox organization, this pick is still considered a success considering how far he got....even if it wasn't here.
4th Round - RHP Noah Song
Forget baseball career, the LIFE of right handed pitcher Noah Song should be a movie someday. Song pitched for four years in Annapolis for the US Naval Academy before getting picked by the Red Sox in the 4th round of the 2019 draft. After being the Lowell Spinners' ace to end 2019, he was subsequently drafted to become a real life Top Gun, going to flight school and missing the 2020-22 seasons. He was then taken by Philadelphia in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft by the man who drafted him, but since he didn't make the majors, he was returned to the Sox at the end of the 2023 season. Then he had to have Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2024 season and most of 2025. He allowed 29 runs in 47 innings to finish 2025 between Portland and the Worcester Red Sox. This year he's 1-1 with a 6.17 ERA and it doesn't look like he's going to make it. Still, to be a real life Lieutenant Top Gun and pitch in AAA all before turning 29 is nothing to sneeze at. Still, it can't be considered a true success since he didn't get the call to Boston. He was the last pick of the fourth round and one pick later, the first of the 5th, the Baltimore Orioles took Darrell Hernaiz who's now playing for the Oakland A's. Still, since everyone else from the 2019 draft is gone, this makes Song the last of the Lowell Spinners to still be with Boston. Who knows, maybe there will be a Hollywood ending where he's pitching at Fenway this year. We can dream, right?
6th Round - LHP Chris Murphy
Another success was Boston's sixth round pick, left handed pitcher Chris Murphy out of San Diego University. Murphy allowed just 6 runs in 33 innings for the Lowell Spinners to end 2019 and was batting practice as a starter between 2021-23. Still, the lack of options out of the bullpen led the Sox to promote Murphy and his 6.32 ERA from Worcester to Boston on June 7, 2023. After having Tommy John surgery in 2024, he came back in late June 2025. He was 3-0 with a 3.12 ERA down the stretch for the Sox as they marched to the playoffs only to be upended by the New York Yankees. Then just to save a few dollars, Murphy was traded to the Chicago White Sox in November for catching prospect Ronny Hernandez. Fans were irate at the time but this year he's allowed 7 runs in 6 innings earning a demotion to the Charlotte Knights where he's 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA. If the 27 year old's best days are behind him, at least he can say he was apart of a playoff team in Boston. To those that say Dave Dombrowski couldn't draft, four out of his first six draft picks in this draft made the show.
10th Round - OF Steve Scott
In the 10th round, the Sox took outfielder Steve Scott out of Vanderbilt University. Why is this pick noteworthy? His minor league career wasn't anything to write about but its about the pick they DIDN'T make. Scott had a hell of 2021 hitting 16 home runs and driving in 71 runs between Salem and Greenville. In 2022, the Portland Sea Dogs made the playoffs due to 7 home runs in 59 games courtesy of Scott. In 2023 he made it to Worcester where he hit just .228 but with 13 home runs. With the log jam in the Red Sox outfield at the time (and still to this day), Scott was released in Spring Training in 2024. He spent two years with the Toledo Mud Hens but was released after hitting .138 last year. Just another failed 10th round pick in a sea full of them right? Problem is just two picks after the Sox took Scott, the Kansas City Royals took slugger Vinnie Pasquantino. Pasquantino hit 32 home runs and was third in the American League with 113 rbis last season with the Royals. We just saw Pasquantino for three games leading to today's off-day as well. As good as Dombrowski's picks were, taking Scott over Pasquantino haunted them big time.
14th Round - 1B Jordan Beck
Sometimes guys are drafted in the wrong place at the wrong time, such was the case when the Sox used their 14th round pick on an Alabama high school first baseman named Jordan Beck. Beck refused to sign with the Red Sox and ended up going to Tennessee University. This increased his draft stock enough to be drafted by the Colorado Rockies 38th overall in 2022. He played in 55 games with the Rockies in 2024 and belted 16 home runs while driving in 53 runs in 2025. This year he's only hitting .183 with a home run but the fact he made the show to begin with has to be considered a success...or half of one in this case. Dave Dombrowski's scouting department knew they had MLB caliber talent, he just chose to go to Tennessee instead. Oh well, what are you gonna do?
26th Round - LHP Brandon Walter
Dombrowski scored late in the draft when he took left handed pitcher Brandon Walter out of Delaware University in the 26th round. He was 5-4 with a 2.92 ERA between Salem and Greenville in 2021 and was 2-2 with a 2.88 ERA in 9 starts with Portland in 2022. He got a cup of coffee with Worcester to end 2022 and was pitching well in the Worcester rotation in 2023 when he got the call to Boston on June 22nd.....as a relief pitcher. He allowed 17 runs in 23 innings before being sent back to Worcester. In 2024 he missed the first few months of the season recovering from a rotar cuff injury when he was released. He was picked up by the Houston Astros although he didn't pitch. In 2025 he was 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA for the Sugarland Space Cowboys before being brought up by the Astros as a starter. Shockingly he was 1-3 but with a respectable 3.35 ERA in 9 starts. Unfortunately he's been injured this season but he's still a success story. With the rotation in shambles in 2023, its a wonder the Sox didn't put Walter in it outright but, that's another Chaim Bloom failure. Hopefully Walter recovers but either way, another Dombrowski draft pick that can be considered a success.
32nd Round - RHP Bradley Blalock
Another late round success was 32nd round pick, right handed pitcher Bradley Blalock out of Grayson High School in Georgia. After going 5-6 with a 2.99 ERA for the Gulf Coast Red Sox in 2019, he was 3-6 with a 4.27 ERA in 23 starts for Salem in 2022. He had Tommy John surgery in 2022 but it seemed to have fixed him. In 2023 he was 6-1 with a 2.82 ERA between Salem and Greenville when he was infamously traded for Milwaukee Brewers utility infielder Luis Urias at the 2023 trade deadline, more on that later. He was 5-2 with a 4.08 ERA for the Biloxi Shuckers when he made his major league debut in July of 2024 with 10 scoreless innings. That prompted the Brewers to trade him to Colorado at the deadline where he was 1-3 with a 6.07 ERA to end the season. Last year he was AWFUL, going 2-6 with a 9.36 ERA in 12 starts for the Rockies. This season he's currently 1-3 with a 4.74 ERA for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Miami Marlins AAA team. So why was the trade to Milwaukee so infamous? Not just Red Sox fans but Rafael Devers and Kenley Jansen of the Sox themselves were screaming at then-General Manager Chaim Bloom for help at the trade deadline. Just like his predecessor Dave Dombrowski in 2019, the only move Bloom made was trading Blalock for Urias. The Sox went right in the tank and Bloom was fired in September. If nothing else, Blalock is forever linked to the downfall of Chaim Bloom through no fault of his own. Becoming the 7th player to make the majors is nothing to sneeze at if you're Dave Dombrowski's scouting department.
37th Round - LHP Connor Prielipp
Hey look! Its tomorrow night's starter against the Red Sox, left handed pitcher Connor Prielipp of the Minnesota Twins. The current odds on favorite for AL Rookie of The Year was actually drafted by the Red Sox in the 37th round back in 2019....but just like Jordan Beck, he didn't sign. He ended up going to Alabama University where he was taken 48th overall in the 2022 draft by Minnesota. It looked like he wasn't headed very far when he went 1-9 with a 4.03 ERA between AA and AAA but turned it around this year. He was 1-0 with a 2.30 ERA in 3 starts before making his ML debut. He's currently 1-2 with a 2.88 ERA and if he keeps his ERA down, that might be good enough for Rookie of The Year. Just like with Jordan Beck, the scouting department knew he had talent, he just didn't sign.
So there you have it, there's our one and only look at the 2019 MLB Draft for the Boston Red Sox. 7 guys made the majors with an 8th shockingly still in the system. Cam Cannon was the Sox first pick due to Luxury Tax issues and the Sox missed out on Vinnie Pasquantino by two picks, no disrespect to Steve Scott. The rest of them were slam dunks, even if two of them didn't actually sign and 3 made their debuts elsewhere. Chris Murphy was an integral part of the 2025 playoff run and the trade in 2024 opened the door for Lugo and Zeferjahn to find MLB success. Who the hell thought Brandon Walter would become a stud in 2025 and hopefully his injury heals. The name of the game is development and for a lot of grief Sox fans have given Dave Dombrowski about gutting the farm system, it wasn't like he wasn't making good picks since seven made the show (with a possible 8th) in his final draft. If Craig Breslow isn't fired by the all-star break, it'll be interesting if he can draft 7 major leaguers in a single draft. Time will tell.
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