It’s time for baseball’s most exciting human resources meeting.
UPDATE 2:00 PM: Things are really starting to move and it’s now officially funny how many pitchers the Sox have selected. In the sixth, seventh, and eighth rounds they’ve picked up Leighton Finley out of Georgia, Myles Patton from Texas A&M, and Dylan Brown of Old Dominion. All three are pitchers, with both Patton and Brown being lefties. We seem to be in the portion of the draft where the Sox are focusing on cheap-to-sign college pitchers who have plenty of question marks to go with hopefully untapped potential. They may be trying to save some bonus pool money to attract a harder-to-sign high school talent later on.
UPDATE, 12:30 PM: And we have yet another pitcher! The Red Sox draft strategy has taken a near 180 under the new regime. This one is Christian Foutch out of the University of Arkansas, the 231st-ranked prospect overall according to MLB.com. Foutch’s fastball can hit 100, which explains why he was drafted even though he put up an ERA over 4 as a reliever this year, frequently in mop-up situations.
UPDATE, 11:45 AM: With the 118th overall pick, the Red Sox select Mason White in the fourth round. White is a shortstop out of the University of Arizona who struggles with strikeouts but is bursting with tools, making him a high-upside guy if he can figure out his swing-and-miss issues.
UPDATE, JULY 14, 2005: And with their final pick of the day, the Sox selected pitcher Anthony Eyanson from LSU at #87. Eyanson pitched the clinching game of the College World Series, throwing 6.1 innings against Coastal Carolina, allowing three runs and seven hits while striking out nine. This year’s draft strategy continued to reflect a significant change from the Chaim Bloom era, when the Sox tended to avoid pitchers in the early rounds.
The draft will resume with rounds 4-20 today at 11 AM. The Sox will select 13th in every round.
UPDATE, 10:31 PM EDT: We have our first position player. With the #75 pick earned after losing Nick Pivetta to free agency, the Sox selected Henry Godbout, a middle infielder from UVA. Godbout, who was born in New York City but went to high school in Tennessee, hit .309 with 8 homers in 50 games for the Cavs this year. He also played in the Cape Cod League for Harwich, which is my favorite town on the Cape, so that’s nice. The Sox have been tracking Godbout for a while and even worked him out at Fenway when he was still in high school. He is #71 on Pipeline’s big board.
UPDATE, 8:45 PM EDT: And with the Larry Bird pick, the Sox select another towering pitcher, Marcus Phillps out of South Dakota (!) via the University of Tennessee. This is the reverse scenario we encountered with Witherspoon. While Witherspoon fell to 15 after being considered a top-10 guy, the Sox stretched a bit going with Phillips, who was only the 61st ranked player on Pipeline’s big board. But, hey, he touches 100 MPH on the gun. When you have an opportunity to add someone who can do that to your organization, it’s generally a good idea to take it.
UPDATE, 7:36 PM EDT: The first pick is in and all of America is shouting Justice for Bob Osgood! After completely whiffing on Braden Montgomery last year, Bob comes roaring back in 2025, nailing the Sox first round pick as none other than Kyson Witherspoon, a right-handed pitcher from Oklahoma.
Like Kyle Teel and Marcelo Mayer before him, Witherspoon is one of those guys who inexplicably dropped in the first round and fell into the Sox lap (Baseball America had him as #7 on their big board). Here’s what Bob wrote about him earlier this week:
Kyson Witherspoon RHP, Oklahoma
Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Curveball: 60 | Slider: 60 | Cutter: 60 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 50 | Overall: 55
Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Witherspoon transferred to Oklahoma from a JuCo prior to his sophomore season and has taken major steps forward since. Pitching in the SEC this year, Witherspoon was 10-4 with a 2.65 in 16 starts, striking out 124 in 95 innings. His walk rate dropped from 4.5 BB/9 as a sophomore to 2.2 BB/9 as a junior. While it is less likely that the Red Sox go with an arm, Witherspoon and Tyler Bremner are the two that they seem most linked to.
Did you know that the MLB draft used be conducted entirely over the phone? No cameras. No handshakes with the commissioner. No hordes of people on the internet pretending that they’ve ever seen any of these guys play an inning baseball.
In light of the fact that the vast majority of players drafted over the next two days won’t have any impact on their teams for years — if they ever do at all — the old way of doing things over the phone was, in a way, more honest. But the televised draft is obviously more fun.
Tonight we’ll get the first three rounds. Coverage starts at 6 PM on MLB Network, while ESPN will also cover the first round.
The Red Sox, true to their recent legacy of being MLB’s most mid team, will be drafting right smack in the middle of the first round at #15. They’ll go again at #33 and #75 before pausing to resume tomorrow.
We’ll have updates here as the Sox make their picks. In the meantime, take a look at some players who might be available when they’re on the clock.
Round 1
1. Nationals
2. Angels
3. Mariners
4. Rockies
5. Cardinals
6. Pirates
7. Marlins
8. Blue Jays
9. Reds
10. White Sox
11. Athletics
12. Rangers
13. Giants
14. Rays
15. Red Sox
16. Twins
17. Cubs
18. Diamondbacks
19. Orioles
20. Brewers
21. Astros
22. Braves
23. Royals
24. Tigers
25. Padres
26. Phillies
27. Guardians
Prospect Promotion Incentive Picks
28. Royals [for Bobby Witt Jr. finishing in the top three for AL MVP]
Compensation Picks
29. Diamondbacks [for losing Christian Walker in free agency as revenue-sharing recipient]
30. Orioles [for losing Corbin Burnes in free agency as revenue-sharing recipient]
31. Orioles [for losing Anthony Santander in free agency as revenue-sharing recipient]
32. Brewers [for losing Willy Adames in free agency as revenue-sharing recipient]
Competitive Balance Round
33. Red Sox [acquired from Brewers for Quinn Priester]
34. Tigers
35. Mariners
36. Twins
37. Orioles [acquired from Rays for Bryan Baker]
38. Mets [first-round pick moved back due to luxury tax]
39. Yankees [first-round pick moved back due to luxury tax]
40. Dodgers [first-round pick moved back due to luxury tax]
41. Dodgers [acquired from Reds for Bryan Baker]
42. Rays [acquired from Athletics for Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez]
43. Marlins
Round 2
44. White Sox
45. Rockies
46. Marlins
47. Angels
48. Athletics
49. Nationals
50. Pirates
51. Reds
52. Rangers
53. Rays
54. Twins
55. Cardinals
56. Cubs
57. Mariners
58. Orioles
59. Brewers
60. Braves
61. Royals
62. Tigers
63. Phillies
64. Guardians
65. Dodgers
Competitive Balance Round
66. Guardians
67. Rays [compensation for not signing 2024 second-round pick Tyler Bell]
68. Brewers [compensation for not signing 2024 second-round pick Chris Levonas]
69. Orioles
70. Guardians [acquired from Diamondbacks for Josh Naylor]
71. Royals
72. Cardinals
73. Pirates
74. Rockies
Compensation Pick
75. Red Sox [for losing Nick Pivetta in free agency]
Round 3
76. White Sox
77. Rockies
78. Marlins
79. Angels
80. Nationals
81. Blue Jays
82. Pirates
83. Reds
84. Rangers
85. Giants
86. Rays
87. Red Sox
88. Twins
89. Cardinals
90. Cubs
91. Mariners
92. Diamondbacks
93. Orioles
94. Brewers
95. Astros
96. Braves
97. Royals
98. Tigers
99. Padres
100. Phillies
101. Guardians
102. Mets
103. Yankees
104. Dodgers
Competitive Balance Round
105. Angels [compensation for failing to sign 2024 third-round pick Ryan Prager]