Franklin Arias spent the winter trying to turn a good offensive profile into a more dangerous one, and the results showed up fast.
The Red Sox shortstop came into 2026 with elite bat-to-ball ability already in place, but he wanted more than that. After a 2025 season that featured plenty of contact and only modest power, Arias focused on getting stronger and adjusting his contact point so he could lift the ball more often and do real damage in the air.
He wasted no time flashing the payoff. In his first live batting practice at-bat of spring training, Arias sent a home run down the left field line, and that swing turned into a preview of what was coming next. Over 115 games between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester, the 20-year-old hit .320/.397/.551 with 24 homers.
“Every time you’d check the box score or watch a game, there was another home run or another extra-base hit,” Red Sox farm director Brian Abraham said. “I saw him as a (future) 10-15 (homer) guy to start the year.
“Now I see potentially 15-20 if things continue to progress as they have, which changes his trajectory as an overall player significantly, in my opinion.”
Arias already had the ingredients to profile as a solid everyday shortstop. His baseball IQ and anticipation stood out, and his swing had long produced plenty of contact, line drives, and hard grounders thanks to a flat bat path.
What changed in 2026 was the quality and shape of that contact. He started hitting the ball harder and at better angles, with his 90th percentile exit velocity climbing from 102.6 mph to 104.2 mph.
His groundball rate also dropped from 48% to 41%, and his air-pull rate rose by 3 percentage points.
The production kept rolling after his jump to Double-A, where he posted a .993 OPS in a dazzling run. He stayed productive in Triple-A as well, finishing with an .867 OPS, though the power dipped some as he adjusted to the tougher level and the less lively baseball used there. Even so, the overall picture points toward a big league arrival by mid-2027 at the latest.
“Let’s create a floor and then work our way up from there,” Abraham said of Arias’ Triple-A approach. “The more at-bats he gets, the more pitches he sees at that level, the more comfortable he will be in taking more chances to get his ‘A’ swing off.
“But I think we’re just kind of seeing a kid adjust to the level . . . and be a consistent impact guy.”
SOX YARNS
Righthander Yordanny Monegro, who suffered a torn UCL in June 2025, made his way back into official games in late August and logged three season-ending appearances for High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland.
Middle infielder Henry Godbout also finished strong after missing two months with a broken wrist. He homered eight times in 18 games for Double-A Portland and wrapped up his first full pro season with 15 homers in 61 games and a .291/.402/.530 line.
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