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Payton Tolle, LHP, Red Sox: In his first start of the season, Tolle struggled with High-A Greenville. But in two starts since then, Tolle has dominated. On Sunday, he struck out nine of the 15 batters he faced, holding Hub City to one hit in four scoreless innings. Tolle has now allowed one run on four hits in his past eight innings after allowing six runs in 1.2 innings in his 2025 debut. His ERA remains an unsightly 6.52 but its trending in the right direction and he has 17 strikeouts in 9.2 innings.

Tolle will also have two fellow Red Sox prospects joining him at High-A this week.

Boston rewarded two of its top performers, SS Franklin Arias and LHP Brandon Clarke, with promotions on Sunday. At the time of the promotion, Arias was hitting .346/.407/.397 with four stolen bases. Clarke made three starts for Low-A Salem, most recently on Wednesday, and has allowed just one earned run over 9.2 innings. 

Arias ranks as the Red Sox No. 4 prospect and is the highest-rated Red Sox prospect on the Top 100 after the big three of Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer. Arias is known for his advanced hit tool, polished strike zone discipline and baserunning. So far this season, he’s struggled to hit for power, but he’s shown above-average exit velocity data for his age throughout his professional career. Greenville and the South Atlantic League is more conducive for power than Salem or the Carolina League, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Arias increase his slugging percentage with the move. 

Clarke is this year’s unranked Red Sox prospect most likely to rocket up the Top 30. Clarke announced his presence in spring training with triple digit fastball velocity from the left side and a plus mid-to-high-80s sweeper. Over the first month of 2025 he’s simply overpowered Low-A competition, showing big stuff but significantly better strike-throwing than he flashed as an amateur.  

Chandler Simpson, OF, Rays: Simpson went 3-for-4 on Sunday with a walk, an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored as he played a large role in the Rays' 4-2 win over the Padres. Simpson has hit safely in all eight games he's played in the major leagues, and is now hitting .400/.455/.433. The Rays are 6-2 since Simpson arrived. He's already produced 0.8 bWAR in just eight games.

Logan Evans, RHP, Mariners: Evans allowed two hits and two runs in five innings as he won his MLB debut. Evans gave up a home run to Augustin Ramirez in the first inning, and then an uglier run in the fifth as Connor Norby singled, Liam Hicks walks and a wild pitch advanced both of them. Otto Lopez drove Norby in with a ground out. Evans avoided any further trouble by getting a fly out and a strikeout. Evans was his normal groundball-heavy self. He had just four swings and misses among his 78 pitches, but that Ramirez home run was the only extra-base hit he allowed.

Zyhir Hope, OF, Dodgers: For the second time this season, Hope picked up four hits, as he went 4-for-6 with three runs scored and a double on Sunday for High-A Great Lakes. Hope had been in a mini-slump that had seen his batting average drop below .300 for the first time this season, but his excellent Sunday raised his slash line to .310/.383/.560.

Konnor Griffin, OF, Pirates: Low-A Bradenton center fielder Konnor Griffin went 3-for-4 with three doubles on Sunday. It was Griffin's second consecutive three-hit day, and he did it in style, producing three of the five hardest-hit balls of the game (Tigers' shortstop Bryce Rainer had the other two). Griffin is now hitting .270/.345/.514. He's had the hardest-hit ball in the Florida State League this season (a 114.2 mph single) and the fifth-fastest sprint speed (30.8 feet/second).

Check out the link below for additional updates on Mets RHP Jonah Tong, Red Sox OF Miguel Bleis, Brewers RHP Jacob Misiorowski & more.

Editor’s Picks

College Ace Report: These 15 starters dominated over the weekend, and several could end up featuring prominently in July’s draft. Read more…

Rising Prospects Outside The Top 100: In case you missed it, Geoff Pontes highlighted 15 early-season risers on Friday. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Each day, we’ll pick a prospect that has our attention.

Tim Elko, 1B, White Sox: Elko hit his seventh and eight home runs of the season on Sunday for Triple-A Charlotte, marking his third two-homer game of the season. Elko is on a ferocious tear. He has eight home runs in the past 10 games. He's now hitting .354/.432/.732 and his nine home runs lead the International League. Elko was one of the stars of a last week’s Statcast Standouts installment.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Pirates LHP Hunter Barco struck out eight more batters over three scoreless innings on Sunday. He has not allowed a run in 20.2 IP, with 30 strikeouts to four walks (and three HBP) over that stretch.

• Guardians LHP Parker Messick is down to a 3.22 ERA with Triple-A Columbus after striking out eight batters over five innings on Sunday.

• Mets SS Ronny Mauricio is beginning a rehab assignment with Low-A St. Lucie.

• MLB.com reported that Royals C Blake Mitchell has returned to extended spring training games.

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