Photo Credit; The Boston Globe
The Boston Red Sox farm system might be dwindling down a bit, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t exciting components to it. When it comes to watch ability and wanting to monitor players, there is plenty of upside.
The most obvious is Franklin Arias, who is the consensus top five prospect in baseball. There is a very strong case to be made that he is the opening day shortstop if there is a 2027 season. With extra seasoning and growth, players like Justin Gonzales, Sadbiel Delzine, and Franklin Primera are players to monitor and could be foundational pieces in the distant future.
One thing that stood out was this 2026 draft class and the players that the Red Sox brought into the organization. If you love college baseball and what the Tarheels did this season, you’ll be thrilled the Red Sox landed two of their premiere talents. Jake Schaffner and Owen Hull had monstrous seasons for the Tarheels and carried a bit of that over to the Greenville Drive. Hull is a player that can make a name for himself this season and be among the top 100 prospects in the sport.
Hull spent two years at George Mason before landing in Chapel Hill. His 2025 season was very strong, showing growth and promise in his game. He slashed .367/.474/.557/1.031 with 145 wRC+. Not a big home run hitter, but someone who capitalized on his RBI opportunities and stole a whopping 42 bases. He got to Chapel Hill and things improved. He slashed .393/.500/.615/1.115 with 146 wRC+. Hull set a career high in home runs with nine and drove in 87 runs. He didn’t quite steal as many bases, but a guy who was a machine at helping the Tarheels become one of the best teams in college baseball.
He’s had a great college career and truthfully seeing Craig Breslow go off the board from what he does like. Hill isn’t going to blow you away with raw power. Yes, the slugging steadily increased from year to year, but his isolated power has steadily been in the .190 range. He doesn’t have a ton of pull ability, which is something the Red Sox organization can get him to be. It’s actively something he is striving to work on and incorporate more power into his game. We’ve seen power surges with the Red Sox minor players this season. Arias and even Henry Godbout are prime examples. Breslow opted into the contact approach and it’s an approach that is desirable. Good things happen when you put the ball into play.
There is more to just being a contact oriented hitter. Hull has a great eye for the ball. Across his entire collegiate career, he never had a walk rate below 15%. Furthermore, his strikeout rate was never above 15%. In simple terms, he really is walking as much as he is striking out, while also putting bat to ball. That did translate right into Greenville and fans got a glimpse of the player he could be.
The sample size is quite small, seeing he played 24 games and 117 plate appearances. Hull slashed .337/.436/.531/.967 with 149 wRC+. Of his 33 hits, 13 went for extra bases and he was able to hit three home runs. Only six fewer than what he did all in college this season. Furthermore, he struck out 17 times, but walked 16, so that relatively even split translated right into professional baseball.
Source: TJStats
Even under the hood things look great for the player. There is not a lot of swing and miss and he isn’t aggressive outside the zone. Not only is he swinging inside the zone he is making contact. This is a player who has the tools already to be a really special player and if he puts it more together with development, the sky is the limit and the Red Sox have something here.
This isn’t a player that will be rushed. But a player that will have good seasoning in the minors and could see a great ascension. If the organization taps into the power more, the sky is the limit for this player and what he can be moving forward.
The Tar Heel boys are gonna be special.