Red Sox prospect Miguel Bleis is coming off a season in which he was named the organization’s Minor League Baserunner of the Year. This article will examine how the speedy outfielder fared on the 2025 campaign as a whole.
Due to a quad injury suffered late in spring training, Bleis did not make his season debut until High-A Greenville’s fifth game of the season on April 9. The 21-year-old then spent the better part of the next five months with the Drive, batting .226/.314/.422 with 15 doubles, one triple, 13 home runs, 41 RBIs, 48 runs scored, 20 stolen bases, 35 walks, and 75 strikeouts over 77 games (325 plate appearances). He was promoted to Double-A Portland on August 1.
Bleis’ promotion came one day after the Red Sox traded fellow outfielders James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard to the Dodgers for starter Dustin May. Though Bleis provided the Sea Dogs with much-needed outfield depth, the right-handed hitter struggled offensively down the stretch, slashing just .209/.263/.291 with six doubles, one home run, 10 RBIs, 10 runs scored, seven stolen bases, six walks, and 31 strikeouts in 30 games (118 plate appearances) to close out his season.
Altogether, Bleis slashed .220/.300/.385 (100 wRC+) with 21 doubles, one triple, 14 home runs, 51 RBIs, 58 runs scored, 27 stolen bases (in 33 attempts), 41 walks, and 106 strikeouts in a career-high 107 games (443 plate appearances) between Greenville and Portland. That includes a .169/.267/.292 line against lefties and a .237/.310/.412 line against righties.
As The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier noted in September, Bleis was the only Red Sox minor leaguer to hit 10-plus homers and steal 20-plus bases. Additionally, among the 19 in the system who made at least 400 trips to the plate last year, Bleis ranked first in fly ball rate (44.7%) and pull rate (62.4%), second in infield fly ball rate (36.5 percent), third in weighted stolen base runs (1.6), fifth in speed score (6.2), seventh in isolated power (.164), and ninth in walk rate (9.3%), per FanGraphs.
Defensively, Bleis saw playing time at all three outfield positions between his stops in Greenville and Portland last season. The athletic 6-foot-2, 205-pounder logged 480 innings in right, 347 2/3 innings in center, and (for the first time in his career) 34 2/3 innings in left, committing four errors and recording 10 assists in 210 total chances. He also made seven starts at DH.
Bleis, who turns 22 in March, received the largest bonus ($1.5 million) of any international free agent the Red Sox signed in 2021. The Dominican native burst onto the scene in 2022 by lighting up the rookie-level Florida Complex League and entered 2023 as a consensus top-100 prospect. That May, however, Bleis suffered a left shoulder subluxation that required season-ending surgery. Since then, he has shown flashes of his tantalizing potential, but has mostly been unable to put it all together on a consistent basis for an extended period.
Baseball America currently ranks Bleis as Boston’s No. 17 prospect. MLB Pipeline has him slightly higher at No. 13. Both outlets acknowledge that his power, speed, fielding, and arm strength tools grade within the 50-60 range on the 20-80 scouting scale, though his hit tool lags behind at 30-40.
After being left off the Red Sox’ 40-man roster in November, Bleis went unselected in December’s Rule 5 Draft. Barring a trade or other surprise move, he is projected to return to Portland for the start of his age-22 season in April. If he can adjust his approach at the plate while maintaining his power, it would not be surprising to see Bleis reach Triple-A Worcester before the end of the year.
(Picture of Miguel Bleis: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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