Red Sox power-hitting prospect Brooks Brannon has been named the Eastern League Player of the Week for the week of May 4-10, Minor League Baseball announced on Monday.
Appearing in four of Double-A Portland’s five games against New Hampshire, Brannon enjoyed a productive, albeit rain-soaked week at Hadlock Field. The right-handed hitter went 9-for-15 (.600) with two doubles, one triple, three home runs, 11 RBIs, three runs scored, one walk, and two strikeouts.
After going hitless in Tuesday’s series opener and losing Wednesday’s contest to rain, Brannon tripled as part of a two-hit effort in Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader. He then homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs on Friday. Following another rainout on Saturday, Brannon capped his week by going 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a home run, and five RBIs in Sunday’s series finale, with his mom in attendance for Mother’s Day.
Due to a broken left hamate bone that required surgery during spring training, Brannon was sidelined for the first three weeks of the 2026 season. Since returning to action for Portland on April 22, however, the 22-year-old is slashing .359/.469/.897 with four doubles, one triple, five home runs, 16 RBIs, seven runs scored, one stolen base, nine walks, and 12 strikeouts through 12 games (49 plate appearances). That includes a .444/.500/1.000 in 10 plate appearances against lefties and a .333/.462/.867 line in 39 plate appearances against righties.
Among 145 Eastern League hitters who have made at least 40 trips to the plate this year, Brannon ranks first in slugging percentage, OPS (1.366), isolated power (.538), wOBA (.547), and wRC+ (224), third in batting average, fourth in on-base percentage, eighth in line-drive rate (35.7%), 13th in walk rate (18.4%), and 29th in swinging-strike rate (9.6%), per FanGraphs.
Defensively, Brannon has played almost exclusively at first base this season. The 5-foot-11, 210-pounder has started 10 games there for Portland, logging 83 1/3 innings while committing just one error in 68 chances. He has also made two starts at DH and brings plenty of experience behind the plate, though he appears to trail Nate Baez, Ronald Rosario, and Johanfran Garcia on the Sea Dogs’ catching depth chart.
Brannon, who just turned 22 earlier this month, was originally selected by the Red Sox in the ninth round (279th overall) of the 2022 draft out of Randleman (N.C.) High School. He forwent his commitment to North Carolina by signing for an over-slot $712,500, but has struggled to stay on the field consistently since entering the professional ranks.
Brannon entered 2026 ranked as Boston’s No. 53 prospect by SoxProspects.com, which notes that he “needs to make more contact and chase less in order to allow his power to play to its potential.” If he can continue to build off this strong start with Portland, it would not be surprising to see him earn a promotion to Triple-A Worcester in the not-so-distant future. Such a move would be noteworthy given that he can become Rule 5-eligible for the first time this winter if he is not added to the 40-man roster by the November protection deadline.
(Picture of Brooks Brannon: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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