Baseball America’s latest staff draft has the Red Sox pointed toward a college arm, and the fit starts with Tennessee right-hander Tegan Kuhns.
Boston has built a reputation for getting more out of young pitchers, especially college arms, and Kuhns checks a lot of the boxes that have worked for the organization lately. Baseball America’s reasoning was straightforward: a fastball with quality shape and velocity, solid control, a mix of offspeed pitches, and a 6-foot-3 frame that still has room to add strength.
Kuhns’ sophomore season at Tennessee made him impossible to ignore. He went 5-5 with a 3.56 ERA, struck out 106 batters and walked only 16 across 81 innings. That 106-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio helped earn him second team All-SEC honors, and his 15-strikeout, seven-inning shutout against Texas became one of the defining outings of the draft conversation.
The rise is even more notable when you look back at where he started. Kuhns arrived in Knoxville after being a top-60 national recruit out of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and went undrafted in 2024.
He was sitting 88-90 mph in high school. Since then, he has added 36 pounds and come back this spring throwing 94-98 mph, with a slider Baseball Prospect Journal called his best secondary pitch at 85-88, a split-changeup still in progress, and a curveball that can get above 3,000 rpm at its best.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has compared Kuhns to George Kirby because of the way he throws strikes, uses multiple pitches and repeats his delivery with above-average control for his age. There’s also a Bronson Arroyo feel to the way he works on the mound - deliberate, rhythmic, with a big leg kick that creates deception and extension - though with much more electric stuff than that comparison might imply.
Boston’s recent track record makes Kuhns even more appealing as a possible target. Payton Tolle moved through three minor league levels in his first pro season and struck out the first five Yankees he faced in his 2026 Fenway debut, including Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
Anthony Eyanson was just named to the MLB Futures Game after the Red Sox added a splitter in spring training and saw him touch 100 mph for the first time. The organization has also already invested in Tennessee pitching, taking Marcus Philips at No. 33 overall last year.
Kuhns is not the only SEC arm Baseball America sees in Boston’s range. Ole Miss right-hander Taylor Rabe has also been linked to the Red Sox in several projections near the back of the first round.
Rabe began the season in the bullpen before moving into the weekend rotation, and he quietly emerged behind Cade Townsend until the final stretch of SEC play changed the conversation. Over his last three starts, he put up a 30-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 19 innings. Bleacher Report called him the biggest riser in the class, and Baseball America’s Staff Draft 4.0 said he “endeared himself to teams in the first round with a strong performance in the SEC” and has “a good combination of power and strikes across his pitch mix.”
The stuff is loud. Rabe is 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, touches 100 mph, works with a mid-80s cutter and slider, and carries a 60-grade control profile that stands out for a power arm. The concern is the Tommy John surgery he has already had, which naturally affects how teams view him and likely pushed him down some boards.
That medical history is exactly why he could be the kind of arm Boston pounces on if he slips. If the Red Sox are comfortable with the medicals, Rabe offers the kind of high-end velocity and strike-throwing ability that can move quickly in the right system.
For now, Baseball America’s mock sends Kuhns to Boston. But if Rabe is still sitting there in the 20-22 range, the Red Sox may not be able to resist.
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