Sunday Notes: Red Sox Prospect Franklin Arias Aspires To Out-Power Luis Arraez

Franklin Arias has a bright future in Boston. Signed out of Venezuela in 2023, the 20-year-old shortstop is the top position-player prospect in the Red Sox system thanks to plus tools on both sides of the ball. A slick-fielder — Eric Longenhagen has described him as an incredibly polished defender for his age” — Arias possesses a line-drive stroke that produced a 109 wRC+ across three levels last season. And while that number may not jump off the page, it stands out when put into context: the Caracas native not only played the entire year as a teenager, he finished it in Double-A.

The degree to which he can boost his power profile will go a long way toward determining his ceiling. Currently more contact than pop, Arias went deep just eight times in 526 plate appearances. At a listed 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, he is by no means built like a bopper.

Red Sox farm director Brian Abraham brought up that aspect of Arias’s game when I asked him about the young infielder earlier this week.

“He’s a guy who makes really good swing decisions,” Abraham said of Arias, who posted a 10.1% strikeout rate and a 5.3% swinging-strike rate in 2025. “He puts the bat on the ball and can drive it to all fields. We’re looking to see him add size and strength so that he can really impact the ball pull-side in the air.

“It’s definitely in there,” added Abraham. “We’ve seen flashes of it, it’s just a matter of him being able to do that on a consistent basis. As a young player who is continuing to grow and get bigger, I think it will come out the more he is able to hit the ball out front and drive it to the pull side. Right now I would say that he is a contact hitter with occasional power, and that the power can be more consistent than it has been.”

Not surprisingly, Arias echoed Abraham’s thoughts when addressing his near-term development goals.

“One of the main focuses in the offseason has been to hit the ball out in front,” Arias said through translator Carlos Villoria-Benítez. “I feel that once I am able to do that consistently, I will have more power, and more power to the pull side. From talking to one of my hitting coaches, I have made my stance a little bit closer, a little more open with my two feet straight, so that I’m able hit the ball out in front a little easier.”

Arias acknowledged that he has done bat-speed training — a staple in Boston’s hitting development program — and as a result his exit velocities have slowly increased. Hitting the ball hard remains his primary goal, but again, doing so with added juice is currently front and center as a work-in-progress objective. Asked if he aspires to do more damage than countryman Luis Arraez, Arias answered in the affirmative.

“It is very admirable what Arraez does hitting-wise,” said Arias. “Obviously, he is great at what he does. But I want to have a little bit more power, as well.”

A player he would more like to emulate?

“Francisco Lindor.”

———

RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Harold Baines went 7 for 11 against Doc Medich.

Russell Martin went 8 for 13 against Carlos Zambrano.

Topsy Hartzel went 9 for 19 against Luther Taylor.

Jeff King went 10 for 24 against Frank Viola.

Matt Holliday went 11 for 14 against Woody Williams.

———

Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark are two of the game’s top position-player prospects, and their plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills are among the reasons why. Last season, Clark had a 17.6% walk rate and a 16.9% strikeout rate to go with a 148 wRC+ between High-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie. McGonigle, who likewise suited up for both affiliates, had a 14.9% walk rate and an 11.6% strikeout rate to go with a 182 wRC+.

Each of the now-21-year-old lefty swingers was a 2023 first-round pick by the Detroit Tigers. Clark, an outfielder, went third overall that year, while McGonigle, a shortstop, was selected 37th overall. Potential cornerstones, they are a big part of the Motown club’s future.

I asked Tigers general manager Jeff Greenberg what the aforementioned walk and strikeout rates say about the promising youngsters, as well as the organization’s hitting-development philosophy as a whole.

“We talk about it all the time,” Greenberg told me during the GM meetings. “Dominating the strike zone. The ability to make good decisions [and] grind out at-bats. Get on base through walks. Put the ball in play and decrease the strikeouts. It’s one of the many reasons both of those guys were highly appealing out of the draft. It’s clearly something they take a ton of pride in, and something they work on.

“We talk about the development path, making adjustments level to level,” continued Greenberg. “A part of that adjustment process is being able to translate those skills against better pitching, and we saw it with those guys getting from A-ball to Double-A… It’s going to continue to be a challenge moving forward. Like most skills, some of it is innate, but some of it can be trained as well. We’ve got a really good hitting-development group in the minor leagues that is heavily involved in that process.”

How similarly do Clark and McGonigle approach their craft?

“In terms of grinding out at-bats and dominating the strike zone, that’s something they both put a lot of value in,” replied Greenberg. “How exactly they do it, how they approach at-bats… they’re certainly not carbon copies of each other. But I do think that there are some underlying traits with how they value the importance of swinging at the right pitches, finding the right pitches to hit.”

Tigers batters had a 23.9% K-rate last season, fourth-highest in MLB. They finished middle of the pack in both walk rate and chase rate.

———

A quiz:

Which player has the most stolen bases in Toronto Blue Jays franchise history? (A hint: a first-round pick by Toronto, he spent 10 seasons with the Jays before leaving for another AL team as a free agent.)

———

NEWS NOTES

Bud Black and Wil Myers have rejoined the San Diego Padres, the former as a senior adviser to baseball operations, the latter as a special assignment coach in player development. Black managed the Padres from 2007-2015. Myers played for the team from 2015-2022.

The Cleveland Guardians have added John Manuel to their scouting department. Baseball America’s Editor in Chief from 1996-2017, Manuel spent the past eight years as a professional scout with the Minnesota Twins.

Dave Giusti, a right-hander who pitched primarily for the Astros and Pirates in a career that spanned the 1962-1977 seasons, died last Sunday at age 86. A middling starter with Houston early on, he had his best years after moving to the bullpen in Pittsburgh. From 1970-1975, Giusti went 42-24 with 127 saves and a 2.80 ERA for a Pirates team that won five NL East titles over that six-year-stretch.

Ray Crone, a Memphis native whose MLB career spanned the 1954-1958 seasons, died earlier this week at age 94. Pitching for the Milwaukee Braves and New York/San Francisco Giants, the right-hander went 30-30 with a 3.87 ERA over 137 appearances comprising 546 innings.

———

The answer to the quiz is Lloyd Moseby, who swiped 255 bases while playing for the Jays from 1980-1989. Drafted second overall by Toronto in 1978 (the Atlanta Braves took Bob Horner with the first pick), Moseby went on to ink a free-agent deal with the Detroit Tigers in December 1989.

———

Jose A. Ferrer promises to be a big part of the Mariners bullpen in 2026. Acquired by Seattle from Washington early last month in exchange for Harry Ford and Isaac Lyon, the 25-year-old southpaw is coming off of a third MLB season where he fashioned a 4.48 ERA and a 3.03 FIP over 72 appearances and 76-and-a-third innings. Moved into a closer role after the Nationals traded Kyle Finnegan to the Detroit Tigers at the July 31 deadline, Ferrer logged 11 saves.

Paul Toboni spoke highly of Ferrer while addressing the deal during the Winter meetings.

“It was pretty clear to us that [the Mariners] were in the market for a higher-leverage reliever,” Washington’s president of baseball operations told a small group of reporters, including yours truly. “It wasn’t like we were sitting there looking to trade Jose, but at the same time, when we were presented with this opportunity it was something we needed to strongly consider.

“I think we’re going to look up four-five years down the line and feel like it was a great trade for both teams,” added Toboni. “I am fully expecting us… to be watching him pitching a ton of high-leverage innings for the Mariners. He’s just really good. He’s got elite control, elite stuff. It was a really good get for them.”

Ferrer had a 21.9% strikeout rate and a 4.9% walk rate last season. His 62.6% ground-ball rate was third-highest among MLB relievers who threw at least 50 innings.

———

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Héctor Rodríguez is slashing .301/.371/.504 with four home runs in 128 plate appearances for the Dominican Winter League’s Leones del Escogido. The 21-year-old outfielder in the Cincinnati Reds organization went deep 19 times with a 118 wRC+ between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville.

Deyvison De Los Santos is slashing .309/.365/.475 with five home runs in 156 plate appearances for the Dominican Winter League’s Gigantes del Cibao. The 22-year-old corner infielder in the Miami Marlins system homered 12 times and had a 84 wRC+ with the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.

Raylin Heredia is slashing .333/.388/.566 with two home runs in 49 plate appearances for the Australian Baseball League’s Adelaide Giants. The 22-year-old outfielder in the Philadelphia Phillies system homered seven times with a 139 wRC+ over 184 PAs for High-A Jersey Shore.

Hideki Kuriyama, a former Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters manager who mentored Shohei Ohtani, will be the lone 2026 inductee to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Just missing out was longtime Yomiuri Giants infielder Masahiro Kawai — a career .266 hitter whose 533 sacrifice bunts are the most in Japanese baseball history — who received 254 of 256 votes needed. Kazuo Matsui (22 votes) and Koji Uehara (145) were among the others who garnered insufficient support.

———

Erik Sabrowski was an unranked prospect when he was featured here in Sunday Notes in November 2023. Twenty-six years old and fresh off a stint in the Arizona Fall League, the southpaw from Edmonton, Alberta had just 60 professional innings under his belt at the time. I described him as “an intriguing pitching prospect in a Cleveland Guardians organization that has a way of producing productive big-league pitchers.”

The Canadian lefty is proof in the pudding. Since reaching the majors in September 2024, Sabrowski has come out of the Cleveland bullpen 41 times and logged a 1.29 ERA and a 2.86 FIP over 42 innings. Moreover, his strikeout rate is an impressive 36.3%.

How does he compare to the under-the-radar prospect whom I spoke to in the desert two-plus years ago?

“I would like to think I’m two years smarter and two years more refined,” replied Sabrowski, whose first 2025 appearance didn’t come until late June due to elbow inflammation. “Other than that, I’m pretty much the same pitcher. I throw the same pitches. I still throw a lot of fastballs. I’ve maybe changed some ideas on locations, but in the end I’m mostly the same pitcher.”

Sabrowski’s four-seamer, which he threw 68% of the time last year, is his best pitch. His repertoire also includes a curveball (15.1%) and a slider (19.9%), the latter of which we focused on during our September conversation.

“It’s come a long way since 2023,” he told me. “I probably threw four or five sliders that entire season. In the Fall League, I was given the task of figuring one out. I still call it ‘my project,’ but I definitely throw a lot more of them now. It’s an important pitch for me, especially when hitters are trying to ambush fastballs. It comes out of my hand like a fastball, but doesn’t end up in the same spot.”

The project was effective in 2025. Per Baseball Savant, Sabrowski threw 85 sliders to the tune of a .105 BAA, a .158 SLG, and a 48% whiff rate. The way he grips the pitch isn’t wholly unique, but it does differ somewhat from the standard.

“I’m tilted a little more over top of the horseshoe,” explained Sabrowski. “For me, a traditional slider grip tends to make the pitch a little scoopy, leading to a high glove–side miss, which is never, ever, competitive with a slider. I have to really over-exaggerate to get it there.

“There’s actually nothing all that special about it,” he added. “A big part of my slider is that it isn’t a fastball. It doesn’t have to be the most metrically-pleasing pitch to be effective.”

———

A random obscure former player snapshot:

If you’re not a baseball historian and/or a Detroit Tigers fan, you probably aren’t familiar with Donie Bush. You arguably should be. A longtime teammate of Ty Cobb whose career spanned the 1908-1921 seasons, Bush ranks 10th in franchise history with 1,871 games played, 11th in hits with 1,745, and second in stolen bases with 402. Moreover, he was mostly known for his glove. One of the best defensive shortstops in the Deadball era, Bush led the junior circuit in assists five times, and in putouts three times.

Had he played in a more recent era, he would also have been known for his ability to draw free passes. While he batted just .250 over the course of his career, topping out at .281, the 5-foot-6 leadoff hitter coaxed 100 or more walks in three different seasons and led the league in that category five times. Including his final 74 games, which were spent with the Washington Senators, Bush finished his career with 1,804 hits and a .366 OBP. He later managed the Senators, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, and Cincinnati Reds.

———

LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

Just Baseball’s Ethan Penrod wrote about how Josh Rawitch, the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, brought his childhood fascination for card collecting to Cooperstown.

Purple Row’s Samantha Bradfield opined that Michael Lorenzen is ready to be a problem solver at Coors Field.

The Athletic’s Sam Blum wrote about the healthcare challenges faced by 22-year-old Los Angeles Angels prospect Rio Foster, who was badly injured in a September drunk-driver accident (Foster was a passenger in the car).

Could the Padres’ long-term viability in San Diego be in danger? Barry Bloom explored that question at Forbes.

———

RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

Tony Gwynn came to the plate 10,232 times and reached base 3,955 times. He had 135 home runs and 319 stolen bases. Bobby Abreu came to the plate 10,081 times and reached base 3,979 times. He had 288 home runs and 400 stolen bases.

Nick Markakis had 4,025 putouts as a right-fielder, the fourth-highest total at that position in MLB history. He was credited with 119 assists (16th-most) and charged with just 24 errors.

Mark Buehrle went 14-5 with a 3.42 ERA against the Texas Rangers. He went 2-14 with a 6.03 ERA against the New York Yankees.

Dustin Pedroia slashed .353/.432/.566 in 273 plate appearances versus the Kansas City Royals. He slashed .243/.319/.370 in 263 plate appearances versus the Detroit Tigers.

The Red Sox signed 35-year-old Orlando Cepeda as a free agent on today’s date in 1973. Serving exclusively as the team’s first-ever DH, the Hall of Fame slugger homered 20 times with a 114 wRC+ in his lone Boston season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates purchased Hank Greenberg from the Detroit Tigers on today’s date in 1947. The Hall of Fame first baseman played his final season that year, putting up a 132 wRC+ (his career mark was 153) and hitting 25 of his 331 home runs.

Players born on today’s date include Merrill May, a third baseman who logged 610 hits and a .275 batting average while playing for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1939-1953. Nicknamed “Pinky,” the Laconia, Indiana native was the father of Milt May, who caught for five teams across the 1970-1984 seasons.

Also born on today’s date was Tom Harrison, a native of Trail, British Columbia, whose MLB career comprised two games for the Athletics in 1965. In the second of them, the right-hander relieved Catfish Hunter and retired one of the four batters he faced in a 13-2 Kansas City loss to the Chicago White Sox. Ten days earlier, Harrison had pinch-run for catcher Billy Bryan in a game against the California Angels. Notable about Bryan’s career is that he was behind the plate later that year when Satchel Paige made his final big-league appearance, throwing three scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox at the age of 59.