READING, Pa. – One year ago, Anthony Eyanson was coming up on the game of his life, and he wanted to take the day easy. He kept his phone time limited, except to scroll through his camera roll some to look at pictures of Regionals, Super Regionals and other highlights from his one season at LSU after transferring from UC San Diego, and he fired up a playlist that he thought would best keep him grounded.
“There’s a good amount of jazz in there,” said Eyanson, now the No. 2 prospect in the Red Sox system per MLB Pipeline. “I like some Kenny G, also some slow R&B [from the] ‘90s, 2000s, even Erykah Badu. It’s about slowing down, just letting the environment settle, and when I'm on the mound is when I'll be ultra-competitive.”
Hours after settling in the best he could to the dulcet tones of a soprano saxophone, Eyanson was the starting pitcher in LSU’s 5-3 win over Coastal Carolina in Omaha’s Charles Schwab Field on June 22 – a victory that gave the Tigers their eighth national championship and second over the last three seasons.
It was the culmination of the right-hander’s life’s work to that point and the springboard to what’s made him one of the breakout pitchers in Minor League Baseball in the year since.
“I remember putting on my headband in the dugout right before I went out to go to the bullpen for the final game, and all my baseball memories flushed me at once,” Eyanson said. “From being a kid playing Little League T-ball to literally starting that game, that's probably the biggest game that I pitched in so far. It was just a full-circle moment. I just wanted to be myself and just enjoy it.”
The outing began in a stereotypical Eyanson way – first with a breaking ball and then with a strikeout.
Facing Chanticleers leadoff hitter Caden Bodine – a standout in his own right in the Rays’ pipeline – the LSU starter flipped in a first-pitch 78 mph curveball that the lefty took for a strike. Eyanson stayed ahead 0-2 after two foul balls and then got Bodine to bite on an 86 mph slider in the dirt for his first K of the afternoon. Facing pro pitching in ‘26, Bodine has struck out in only 4.7 percent of his plate appearances this season, but in that moment, he was defenseless against Eyanson’s breaking stuff.
The then-20-year-old pitcher pitched into the seventh inning before the wheels began to fall off, and he was replaced by future second-round pick Chase Shores. His final line: 6 1/3 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 99 pitches, 68 strikes, 20 whiffs – a quality start on college baseball’s biggest stage.
The impressive outing came with Eyanson sticking to his bread-and-butter: an 83-86 mph slider that features sharp downward bite and earns plus-plus grades from some scouts. Eyanson threw the slider 38 times over his 99 pitches, just beating out his fastball (36) for his most-used pitch on the day, and earned 11 of his 20 swings-and-misses on the one-breaker alone. It was a pitch he picked up as a sophomore at UCSD and was initially annoyed when it didn’t sweep as much as he’d hoped, when a coach stepped in to tell him the vertical depth alone on the pitch could make it a weapon. As such, he sought out similar sliders for examples and found one of the best in baseball.
“I started to look at Jacob deGrom throwing his gyro slider,” he said. “[I looked at] the release of his hand staying through the ball … continuing to try to throw it with fastball intent.”
That same feel translated to the curveball as well to give Eyanson two above-average pitches heading into the 2025 Draft, but the quality of his fastball – a pitch that sat 92-93 mph and touched 98 mph in school – still gave some evaluators pause. The Red Sox selected the title-winning starter in the third round, giving them three SEC arms at the top of the Draft behind Oklahoma’s Kyson Witherspoon (first round) and Tennessee’s Marcus Phillips (Competitive Balance Round A).
As part of his first offseason in the Boston system, Eyanson made it a priority to get in more throwing as a pro, mixing in pull-downs and weighted balls with weight training and nutritional improvements – all in the hopes of improving that fastball. Come Spring Training, he noticed he was sitting 94-95 mph in live at-bats without increasing his effort and getting to 97-98 mph when he did hunt velo.
COMPLETE RED SOX PROSPECT COVERAGE
Come the Red Sox’s Spring Breakout game against the Orioles on March 20, the baseball industry got a better look at Eyanson’s gains.
Entering in the eighth inning, Eyanson again quickly got ahead 1-2 against José Peña, using a new-look cutter twice in the process, before catcher Franklin Primera called for the four-seamer. Seeing his opportunity on another big stage, Eyanson let loose and fired a fastball that the righty hitter fought off into the first-base side seats. That’s when the commotion began.
“I heard the dugout clapping, cheering,” Eyanson said. “I catch the ball from the umpire. I'm walking back to the mound, and I see it on the board. It said 100. I was like, I hope that's real. I hope that's a real 100.”
The official Statcast measurement was 100.2 mph – the first time Eyanson had ever touched triple digits in any setting, though he got close at 99.9 mph later in the frame. He struck out all three Baltimore batters he faced, and in a sign that he’s still best when he’s spinning, all three came on curveballs.
It was another singular performance that solidified the Red Sox hurler’s place on the national stage, now as a pro prospect. The breakout has been pronounced since. MLB Pipeline’s No. 69 overall prospect owns a 1.10 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 41 innings between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland. He hasn’t always carried that high-octane velocity into the regular season, but even the decent bump into sitting in the mid-90s with improved ride – along with the addition of the cutter and increased usage of a splitter – have helped the slider and curve shine more.
A national-championship-winning mentality mixed with an improved arsenal: those are the perfect ingredients for a breakout.
“I lean on it a bunch, being able to operate in that environment, in front of those fans, with it all on the line,” Eyanson said. “As far as my career right now, that's the biggest game I have ever played in, and to have the results that I did, it gives me all the reason to go out there and be confident.”
Now that he’s at Double-A, the next big game – his MLB debut – is close around the corner. Eyanson believes he’ll be ready when the time comes. The Kenny G songs will be too.
“I’ll keep some ‘Songbird’ and some ‘Loving You’ ready for me in the playlist,” he said.