Red Sox promote pitching prospect acquired in offseason trade to Low-A Salem

The Red Sox have promoted rising pitching prospect Yhoiker Fajardo from the Florida Complex League to Low-A Salem, according to the club’s MiLB.com transactions log.

Fajardo was among the top arms in the Florida Complex League to begin the 2025 season. In six appearances (four starts) for the FCL Red Sox, the 18-year-old right-hander posted a 0.44 ERA and 2.71 FIP with 24 strikeouts to seven walks over 20 2/3 innings pitched. Opposing hitters batted just .134 against him.

Coming into play on Tuesday, Fajardo was one of 41 pitchers to have thrown at least 20 innings in the FCL so far this year. Among those 41, he ranked first in ERA, FIP, and line-drive rate (2.3 percent), second in batting average against and WHIP (0.77), sixth in strikeout rate (31.6 percent), seventh in xFIP (3.53), 10th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.45), 12th in groundball rate (51.2 percent), and 16th in walks per nine innings (3.05), per FanGraphs.

Fajardo was acquired by the Red Sox from the White Sox for left-handed reliever Cam Booser in December. The native Venezuelan originally signed with Chicago for $400,000 as an international free agent coming out of Villa de Cura last February. He enjoyed a strong professional debut in the Dominican Summer League that culminated in him being recognized as a 2024 DSL All-Star.

Upon switching organizations for the first time in his career over the winter, Fajardo entered the 2025 campaign ranked by both Baseball America and SoxProspects.com as the No. 40 prospect in Boston’s farm system. The projectable 6-foot-3, 181-pound righty throws from a three-quarters arm slot and currently operates with a three-pitch mix that consists of a mid-90s fastball (topped out at 97.4 mph with it last Friday), a low-80s slider, and a high-80s changeup, as noted in his SoxProspects.com scouting report.

It is unclear when Fajardo, who does not turn 19 until October, will make his full-season debut for Salem. Still, with another young arm in the Red Sox pitching pipeline set to move up a level and encounter a new challenge, this is nonetheless an exciting development.