Rising Boston Red Sox Prospect Flashing An Elite Arsenal In High-A

The Boston Red Sox farm system has rapidly risen to the upper echelon of MLB and is proving to be the foundation of an extremely bright organizational future. The majority of their success, which many fans and scouts have clearly pointed out, is much more to the credit of position player prospects than it is to pitching prospects.

However, things may be trending upward as the arrival of well-regarded pitching minds in Craig Breslow, Justin Willard, Andrew Bailey, and Kyle Boddy have already made their presence known across most minor-league levels.

While their biggest in-season pitching prospect riser Luis Perales had his season cut short due to a torn UCL, crafty right-hander Jedixson Paez has flown under the radar with similarly impressive performances. Since arriving in High-A Greenville, the 20-year-old has thrown to a stellar 2.96 ERA in 54.2 innings.

His most recent outing, Wednesday night's 4.2-inning performance, which surrendered just one run on two hits, showcased another promising sign. Paez's fastball velocity has routinely sat in the upper-80s to low-90s range, which has caused some concern among scouts. On Wednesday though, it topped out at 94 MPH.

Paez is currently ranked as the 11th-best pitching prospect in the organization and 28th overall. However, adding a "ticked-up" fastball to his combination of elite command and multiple plus offspeed pitches could see his stock skyrocket.

The demand for high-level pitchers in the MLB continues to grow and their value in farm systems is exponentially increasing. If Paez can continue to fill out his profile and prove that he is a future big-league-caliber starter, the Red Sox might have another top prospect on their hands.