When looking at the Red Sox’ roster for next weekend’s inaugural Spring Breakout game against the Braves, one of the names that sticks out is Brooks Brannon.
Brannon was one of four catching prospects to make the Red Sox’ 28-man roster, joining Kyle Teel, Nathan Hickey, and fellow 19-year-old Johanfran Garcia. He is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 29 prospect in Boston’s farm system.
Brannon, who turns 20 in May, is coming off an injury-shortened 2023 campaign in which he was limited to just 17 total games between the Florida Complex League and Low-A Salem. The right-handed hitter flashed intriguing power in that brief sample, however, as he slashed .264/.303/.583 with three doubles, one triple, six home runs, 23 RBIs, 12 runs scored, four walks, and 20 strikeouts over 77 plate appearances.
After returning to the FCL for the start of his first full professional season, Brannon slashed .250/.294/.542 with three doubles, one triple, three homers, 14 runs driven in, eight runs scored, three walks, and 12 strikeouts in 11 games (52 plate appearances) for Boston’s rookie-level affiliate. He then received a promotion to Salem in late June and went 7-for-24 (.292) with three more home runs, nine RBIs, four runs scored, one walk, and eight strikeouts across six games.
Following the major-league All-Star break, Brannon started at designated hitter for Salem in its matchup against the Delmarva Shorebirds on July 14 and went 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts. Due to a lingering back strain, though, that would ultimately prove to be his final game of the season.
Brannon was placed on Salem’s 7-day injured list on July 29 and then transferred to the 60-day injured list on August 8. He took part in the Red Sox’ fall performance program in September. There, at the Fenway South complex in Fort Myers, Brannon told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith that his top priority in 2024 is to stay healthy.
“The No. 1 goal is just to be healthy the whole year,” Brannon said. “I just want to play the whole year. That’s the No. 1 goal. Outside of that, I’ll be looking to improve everything about my game until I’m done playing.”
Brannon was originally selected by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the 2022 amateur draft out of Randleman High School in North Carolina. On the heels of leading all high schoolers with 20 home runs as a senior, Brannon forwent his commitment to the University of North Carolina by signing with Boston for an above-slot for $712,500, which is more in line with what a third-round pick typically receives.
As noted in his Baseball America scouting report, Brannon “has plenty of pull power when he connects,” but his career 6.5 percent walk rate thus far “points to the need to control his aggressiveness and refine his swing decisions.”
Brannon, for his part, acknowledged that he is working to improve on his approach and swing decisions when speaking with Smith last fall.
“Getting into pro ball, I definitely matured as a hitter,” he said. “Guys just don’t throw 85 down the middle with an average breaking ball anymore. Guys throw gas and they can put it wherever they want. It sinks and it runs and it rises. Part of maturing was picking certain zones to hit depending on the pitcher and playing to my strengths. I’d say another part of maturing was I’m naturally a high energy, aggressive person and having to tone that back a bit because it worked against me. So having to calm down a bit.”
On the other side of the ball, Brannon unsurprisingly saw all of his playing time on the field last year come at catcher. Between the FCL and Salem, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound backstop logged 75 innings behind the plate and committed just one error while throwing out seven of 28 possible base stealers.
Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, which ranks Brannon as the Red Sox’ No. 23 prospect, laude the Tar Heel State native for his “plus arm strength and quick feet behind the plate.” They also praise him for having strong hands and relentless work ethic, but acknowledge that he is “overly active as a catcher and his framing and blocking skills will have to improve” if he intends on sticking behind the plate moving forward.
To that end, Brannon told Smith in September that improving defensively was “going to be a focus in every aspect of catching this offseason” after he struggled “a lot” in that area last year.
Barring a surprise and assuming he remains healthy, Brannon is expected to return to Salem for the start of the 2024 minor-league season. In the more immediate future, Brannon should get the chance to showcase his skills when he and his fellow Red Sox prospects host the Braves’ top prospects at JetBlue Park next Saturday afternoon.
(Picture of Brooks Brannon: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)
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