Red Sox Farm System Gets High Marks In MLB Executive Poll

Boston Red Sox left-handed pitcher Payton Tolle was recently voted as having the best fastball in an MLB Pipeline Executives Poll.

The Red Sox received high marks in the fourth and final installment of the poll on Thursday, which asked executives about “things from the organizational perspective,” such as “who has the best farm system, who is the best at acquiring prospects in trades” and “who develops pitching the best.”

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and company appeared as one of the top vote getters for four of the nine questions on the poll.

Boston finished tied for fourth for the question “Who does the best job drafting?” by garnering 8.9% of the answers, was tied for fifth for “most underrated farm system” at 4.5% and tied for fourth on the question “Which teams hoards prospects the most?”

The Red Sox’s highest finish was second place (18.2%) for the question of “Which team develops hitters the best?” thanks largely to 21-year-old outfielder Roman Anthony.

Boston was runner-up to the Los Angeles Dodgers (31.8%) in that category.

“The Dodgers leapfrog over the Orioles and Red Sox, who tied for first a year ago. That has more to do with what’s in the pipeline than recent success stories getting to Los Angeles. Six of their seven Top 100 prospects are hitters, with three hitters in the upper portions of the list,” MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo wrote. “Boston still gets plenty of support thanks to the Roman Anthonys of the world and the Tigers have jumped on the board behind the bats of Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark and others.”