Red Sox Prospect Weekly: Primera keeps mashing, Paez arrives at Triple-A
By James Collins ·
Nineteen Years Old and Running Out of Challenges: Franklin Primera
Franklin Primera (A, C, Rank: 6) went 9-for-24 last week with a double, a triple, a home run, 3 RBI, 5 walks, and just 1 strikeout across 25 plate appearances. That is not a stretch of hot luck; it is becoming a pattern. Over the last 30 days at Low-A Salem, Primera is slashing .403/.549/.613 with a contact rate of 84.3 percent and a walk rate that is doing most of the heavy lifting on the on-base side. For the season across Low-A and the Florida Complex League, he is at .379/.511/.611 with 11 home runs, 41 walks, and 30 strikeouts in 271 plate appearances. He is 19 years old and catching professionally.
The production has outrun the scouting grades at nearly every turn. He carries a 55 hit tool and average power projection, with the realistic ceiling framed as a major-league backup who can contribute enough offensively to matter. But the zone discipline he is showing, a 42.2 percent swing rate last 30 days paired with that 84.3 contact figure, is well beyond what most teenage catchers do in full-season ball. Walk totals and on-base production signal a hitter who burns few plate appearances, and the power is already showing up with real authority when pitchers come back into the zone. The honest caveat is that Low-A pitching is not the same test as Double-A velocity and sequencing, and a ramp-up in competition will tell us more. Still, a 19-year-old catcher who hits .403 with more walks than strikeouts over a 30-day stretch is a prospect profile that earns a second look at those grades. I would take the over on the bench-only projection right now.
Strike One, Two, Five: Jedixson Paez Opens Triple-A With Authority
Jedixson Paez (AAA, RHP, Rank: 21) was promoted from Double-A Portland to Worcester on August 12, and his Triple-A debut was a clean one: 3.1 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. The timing of the move made sense. Over his last 30 days at Double-A, he posted a 5.40 ERA with some home run trouble, but the underlying walk rate was spotless: 2 walks across 15 innings with 21 strikeouts and a 37.3 percent whiff rate. He is a pitcher who does not beat himself, and that quality travels.
Paez has spent most of 2026 operating out of the Portland bullpen and as a spot starter, logging 49 innings with 56 strikeouts and only 5 walks at Double-A before the promotion. His career walk rate is almost comically tidy for someone who has touched three levels this year, including a brief and forgettable three-game cameo with the White Sox earlier in the season where the results (18.00 ERA) were more about command of the zone under MLB velocity than anything structural. His fastball sits 92-93 with a full four-pitch mix and a 55-grade command profile that lets him work all four quadrants without depending on one pitch to carry the day. The projection is a back-end starter or swingman, and the debut in Worcester did nothing to walk that back. Five strikeouts and zero earned runs in your first Triple-A outing, after doing it calmly with fringe-average stuff, is a resume line that holds up.
Quick Hits
Brooks Brannon (AA, C, Rank: 37) · had the best week of any position player in the upper levels, going 7-for-16 with 4 doubles, a homer, 2 RBI, and a walk in 17 plate appearances. The power is real: he now has 19 home runs on the season at Double-A Portland with a .577 slugging percentage, and his 55-grade raw power is the carrying tool the profile was built around. The contact rate has been a persistent worry, with a 65.5 percent figure and 101 strikeouts in 330 plate appearances through the year, but weeks like this one show what the bat looks like when the swing decisions sync up. A 40 hit tool and aggressive tendencies are still the ceiling limiters, but there are worse outcomes than a right-handed power catcher with 19 bombs at Double-A at 22.
Justin Gonzales (A+, OF, Rank: 4) · drove in 6 on 7 hits, including 2 home runs, across 22 plate appearances last week, extending what has been a genuinely strong month. Over the last 30 days he is slashing .333/.461/.609 with 5 home runs and 21 RBI in 89 plate appearances, a stretch that has helped push his season total to 17 home runs at High-A Greenville. He has a 55 power grade and a 50 hit tool, and that combination is doing what you hope to see from a 19-year-old corner bat: the walk rate (56 free passes in 422 PA this year) stays healthy while the power output climbs. He is still a left-field projection with limited speed and some swing-path questions, but this month has moved the needle on whether the loft is there.
Isaiah Jackson (A+, OF, Rank: 44) · went deep three times and knocked in 6 runs in 16 plate appearances, his most productive week of the season. He has 18 home runs on the year at Greenville, and over the last 30 days he is posting a .293/.425/.621 line with 5 homers and 14 walks against 11 strikeouts. The swing-and-miss remains a concern on paper (89 strikeouts in 377 season plate appearances), but that 30-day contact rate of 70.6 percent is a step in the right direction. He is a 55-grade outfield defender with a realistic path to a center-field bench role if the bat stays near this level. Three-homer weeks do not define a prospect, but three homer weeks with 14 walks over the last month do.
Gerardo Rodriguez (A+, C, Rank: 48) · went 7-for-15 with 4 walks and just 1 strikeout in 19 plate appearances. He is not a power profile (7 home runs and a 40-grade projection there), but the approach has been genuinely strong this month: over the last 30 days at Greenville he is hitting .357 with an on-base percentage of .494 and only 9 strikeouts against 18 walks in 89 plate appearances. He is a backup-catcher projection with a plus arm and a floor built on defense, but that zone management from a 20-year-old catcher at High-A earns some attention even in a limited offensive frame.
Hayden Mullins (AA, LHP, Rank: 26) · struck out 8 over 4.2 innings of one-run ball last week, allowing 3 hits and 4 walks. The strikeout rate is the most dependable part of his profile: he is at 37.1 percent whiff rate on the season and has punched out 107 batters across 73 combined innings. The walk rate is the other story, with 48 free passes this year compared to 25 allowed all of last season across a comparable sample, and the 5.01 ERA at Double-A reflects the damage that comes when the command lapses. He is a 25-year-old left-hander with a 55 slider and good bat-missing ability, and the bullpen projection feels like the most honest path given where the command currently sits.
Yoeilin Cespedes (AA, SS, Rank: 12) · went 5-for-17 with a homer, 2 RBI, and a walk in 17 plate appearances, a decent individual week in the middle of a tough stretch at Double-A. His last 30-day line at Portland reads .156/.235/.299 with 26 strikeouts in 85 plate appearances, the aggressive approach (53 percent swing rate, 64 percent contact) hitting a wall against Double-A breaking balls. He has 19 home runs combined on the season and real bat speed, but the swing-and-miss has been the recurring story since his promotion.
Nelly Taylor (AA, OF, Rank: 23) · delivered two home runs and 6 RBI in just 12 plate appearances. Both homers came in a single game, a reminder that the 65-grade speed and 50-grade power can produce real offensive bursts even when the contact rate is inconsistent. He is hitting .256 over his last 30 days with a .347 on-base percentage and 22 stolen bases on the season, and that speed-and-walk combination keeps him relevant in Double-A even as the hit tool (.193 season average at Portland) remains the central question.
Miguel Bleis (AA, OF, Rank: 18) · went 4-for-13 with a double and a homer at Double-A Portland, a clean week in what has been a mixed season. He is at .235/.291/.389 with 12 home runs in 344 plate appearances, and his last-30-day contact rate of 72.3 percent is a modest improvement over the season trend. The power-speed combination (55 grades on both) is the core of the profile, and 13 stolen bases at Double-A show the speed is still playing. Consistency with the bat remains the gap between the tools and an everyday projection.
Carlos Gutierrez (A+, LF, Rank: 30) · reached base nine times in 21 plate appearances with a double, 4 walks, and a hit by pitch. He does not have a power-driven profile (45 power grade, zero homers over the last 30 days), but his 30 stolen bases and .389 combined on-base percentage make him a legitimate table-setter. The last 30 days at High-A show a .323/.450/.415 line with a 42.8 swing rate and 82.3 contact rate, a disciplined approach that keeps the profile afloat even without the extra-base thump.
Eduardo Rivera (AAA, LHP, Rank: 16) · was placed on the 7-day injured list on August 12. No diagnosis has been confirmed. Before the placement he had gone 7.2 innings over his last four appearances at Worcester with 9 strikeouts, 6 walks, and a 3.52 ERA in that window. For the season he carries a 2.96 ERA across 45.2 innings at Triple-A with 55 strikeouts, making the IL news one to watch.
Henry Godbout (AA, SS, Rank: 13) · received his first promotion to Double-A Portland on August 11 after posting a .277/.410/.492 line with 7 home runs in 161 plate appearances at High-A Greenville. He went 2-for-18 in his first 18 plate appearances at Portland, a tough early look, but the profile that earned the promotion (patience, pop, and a swing that projects at shortstop) still has time to find its footing at the new level.
Harold Rivas, OF, Orioles (RK, Sarasota) · #975 Overall · was traded to the Baltimore Orioles on August 12 as the player to be named later from the Adley Rutschman deal. Rivas hit .241/.343/.429 with 6 home runs and 23 stolen bases in 198 plate appearances with Boston's Florida Complex League affiliate before the departure. The speed was always the calling card, and Baltimore now inherits that athleticism.
Alec Gamboa (MLB, LHP, Rank: 35) · was recalled to Boston on August 12. He has been outstanding in limited big-league action, posting a 1.47 ERA in 18.1 innings across 10 appearances, backed by a 3.68 ERA and solid strikeout-to-walk marks (47 K, 13 BB) in 51.1 innings at Triple-A. He does not miss many bats at the MLB level (13 strikeouts in those 18.1 innings), but the results have been clean.