Anthony Eyanson Looks Like Boston’s Latest Pitching Development Success

For Red Sox pitching prospect Anthony Eyanson, 2026 wasn’t supposed to be like this. The former LSU product and third-round draft pick in 2025 came into his first professional season just looking to get ahead of hitters.

“I had three goals for myself,” Eyanson said, thinking back to his mindset in spring training. “Throw hard, throw nasty pitches and strike people out.”

Not only has he exceeded those goals, he’s become a glimmer of light for Red Sox fans looking for any positivity to latch on to. Eyanson has started 10 games between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland in 2026. Throughout 41 innings pitched, he owns a 1.10 ERA, the lowest among the 790 minor league pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched.

Thanks to his 59 strikeouts, 15 walks and three home runs allowed, his 2.96 FIP is 27th on the same list. It’s been enough to land him at the No. 69 spot on Just Baseball’s latest top 100 prospects ranking.

But before Eyanson was carving up hitters in the South Atlantic and Eastern Leagues, his audition came in the SEC last year. He transferred to the Tigers from UC San Diego for his Junior year, starting the clinching game of the College World Series in the process. For him, pitching in a power four conference prepared him for the minors.

“It taught me how to compete when the moment is big,” he said. “It’s just a difference in the crowd, difference in the environment, difference in the players. It just really taught me who I am as a competitor, how to stay composed, and just how to win.”

Months before getting the call from the Red Sox welcoming him to the organization, he posted a 3.00 ERA with a 33.9% strikeout rate in 108 innings. His 152 strikeouts ranked third in college baseball, trailing only eventual top-10 draft picks Kade Anderson and Liam Doyle.

After taking the rest of the season off, Eyanson returned to the mound in Fort Myers this February. Already with a high-velocity fastball and gyro slider in his arsenal, the Sox opted for him to try out an old weapon, a splitter he says he’s had since he was in high school.

“Just continuing to get more reps with the splitter and involve that to both hitters, both lefties and righties more consistently, has opened up a lot for me,” he said.

Eyanson explained his splitter is still a work in progress as he continues to get used to the repetition of using it and the grip change that was added this year.

With this upgraded arsenal, the righty entered Greenville, South Carolina and instantly made an impact. In four starts at the High-A level, Eyanson allowed just one earned run while striking out 34 batters in 20.1 innings. He said he learned quickly that the lower levels of the minor leagues weren’t so different from the SEC.

“I definitely think the talent gap isn’t as big as it may seem,” Eyanson said. “Guys in college are throwing very hard. I wish I was throwing that hard in college, but some guys are, you know, touching high nines, even 100 in college. So, I would say the talent is, you know, pretty similar. It’s just, you know, how the game is executed and played.”

This immediate success earned Eyanson a quick promotion to Double-A Portland. In six starts for the Sea Dogs, he’s posted a 1.74 ERA with 23 strikeouts and 12 walks in 20.2 innings. Facing hitters that are more polished, he says, getting ahead in counts has gotten harder.

“Hitters are just smarter,” he said of the opposition in the Eastern League. “You know, they stick to their approach way better, and don’t let the pitcher and their game plan take them out.”

Nonetheless, Eyanson has continued to execute and has kept runners from crossing home plate. Limiting free passes is his next adjustment to make at this level.

Red Sox fans have spent years longing for better pitching development in the organization. Since the departure of Jon Lester in 2014, no homegrown pitcher has posted more fWAR than 2017 first-round pick Tanner Houck, who owns a 3.97 ERA and 3.72 ERA in 474.1 career innings.

With recent signs of success from Payton Tolle and Connelly Early, it appears the organization may be turning a corner with its pitchers, and Eyanson represents the latest example of this trend. He believes the team is trending in the right direction in this way.

“I’m really confident in what this pitching department has to offer and where their brain is at as far as developing pitchers,” he said. “I think they have a good feel of how pitchers can stay themselves while just maintaining and gaining more pitches, more velocity and more consistency on the mound. I’m definitely confident that their knowledge and their game plan with me specifically and what I’ve been working on.”