April Players of the Month: Franklin Arias and Anthony Eyanson

The first full month of the minor league season is complete. With that, it is time to present the SoxProspects.com Players of the Month for April to infielder Franklin Arias (pictured, left) and right-hander Anthony Eyanson (pictured, bottom right). After standing out in spring training, both prospects placed within the top six of our Opening Day rankings. They each showed why they deserve such recognition by getting their 2026 campaigns off to scorching starts.

Arias, the No. 2 prospect in the organization behind only lefty Payton Tolle, is a SoxProspects.com Player of the Month honoree for the second time after tearing the cover off the ball in April. In 20 games for Portland, the right-handed hitting 20-year-old batted .375/.432/.764 with four doubles, eight home runs, 20 RBIs, 15 runs scored, two stolen bases, five walks, and nine strikeouts over 81 plate appearances. During that torrid season-opening stretch, he homered six times in seven games from April 14-23. He also came through in the clutch with a pinch-hit walk-off homer on April 25 and a game-tying blast on April 30.

Overall, Arias is slashing .359/.433/.731 through 22 games (90 plate appearances) for Portland this season. Sixteen of his 20 starts have come at shortstop, as he leads the Sea Dogs in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS (1.164), isolated power (.372), strikeout rate (11.1%), hits (28), home runs (8), RBIs (20), and runs scored (16). Given his performance, it feels like only a matter of time before the former top international signee out of Venezuela earns a promotion to Worcester.

Eyanson, the No. 6 prospect in the organization, is a SoxProspects.com Pitcher of the Month honoree for the first time. Selected with the 87th overall pick in last summer's draft out of Louisiana State, the 21-year-old righty made a positive first impression before even making his professional debut by starring in the Spring Breakout game on March 20. He broke camp with Greenville a few weeks later and put together a dominant April, allowing just one earned run on six hits, no walks, and 27 strikeouts over four starts (16 2/3 innings) for the Drive.

In five starts for Greenville overall, Eyanson has posted a 0.44 ERA with 34 strikeouts to three walks across 20 1/3 innings in which opponents have batted .104 against him. The 6-foot-2, 208-pound California native has put up these numbers while featuring a 95-98 mph fastball that can reach triple digits, an 86-89 mph slider, an 80-83 mph curveball, and an 87-89 mph changeup. Taking all that into consideration, he is reportedly being promoted to Portland for a new challenge ahead of the Sea Dogs' upcoming series against New Hampshire.

Photo Credit: Franklin Arias and Anthony Eyanson by Kelly O'Connor

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