Red Sox top pitching prospect racks up career-best 10 strikeouts at Double-A
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Many prospects making the jump from High-A to Double-A often struggle early, as its known to be the hardest level adjustment to make throughout the Minors. That hasn’t been the case for Anthony Eyanson.
The top pitching prospect in the Red Sox system (No. 2 overall) simply continued to roll once he joined Double-A Portland earlier this season. He turned in a milestone performance Friday night when he struck out a career-high 10 batters in 4 2/3 innings in the Sea Dogs’ 9-6 loss to Harrisburg at Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field.
The ability of MLB’s No. 49 prospect to miss bats took center stage in Portland as he faced 20 hitters and tallied a Double-A-best 19 swings-and-misses on the night. He allowed just two earned runs in the outing and is yet to allow more than three earned runs in a start in his first full season. He sports a miniscule 1.32 ERA through his first 16 professional outings between High-A Greenville (0.44 ERA in five starts) and Double-A Portland.
Eyanson has transitioned well from his last collegiate stop at LSU, where he logged 152 strikeouts in 108 innings in 2025, after which Boston selected the right-hander in the second round of last summer’s Draft. He’s off and running in pro ball with a pair of plus pitches (60-grade fastball, 65-grade slider) in his arsenal to attack hitters.
"He's just in-zone with a lot of pitches," Portland manager Kyle Sasala told MLB.com last month. "He gets a lot of depth to his breaking stuff and he's able to throw all of them in counts at any time for strikes. So when you pair that with a fastball, a splitter, sweeper, curveball ... there's a lot of different weapons that he has that hitters can't stay on one pitch. He makes them honest with what he's throwing and the fact that he throws them in all counts, and for strikes. They can't sit on any pitches, which makes him really effective for anyone, and when the stuff is really good, it makes it a really tall task for hitters to be able to consistently get the barrel on him."
Eyanson’s latest dominant outing comes at a crucial time for the organization as the Red Sox could be among the more prominent buyers before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. Teams engaging in talks would certainly see the upside in Eyanson with his fast rise through the system and an elite ability to miss bats (12.4 K/9).