Minor leaguers on winning teams hear the noise around the Trade Deadline. Even top-50 prospects in the game aren’t safe. 

“Obviously, as players within the Red Sox organization, making some jokes here and there, trying to have a playful perspective with it,” Anthony Eyanson told me as he reflected on this year’s deadline. “I remember seeing on Twitter, I was playing a video game with my brothers, I remember seeing something about how the Red Sox had finalized a deal for Adley Rutschman. So I was like ‘man, that’s going to be a big haul for them.’”

It certainly was. 

Eyanson, MLB Pipeline’s No. 49 overall prospect, was among the five players dealt to Baltimore in exchange for Rutschman and Jake Rogers, and is widely regarded as the best prospect in the deal. Looking at his numbers, it’s easy to see why. 

Entering last night’s start, Eyanson had a 1.58 ERA in 19 games across two levels of the minors in his first professional season. He had allowed more than two earned runs in a start just once, and put up a goose egg 10 times. 

“I just really try to be relentless, throwing strikes with all of my pitches,” Eyanson said of his game. “Just really trying to be myself on the mound and really attack hitters, make them earn everything.” 

A big area of improvement for the right-hander has been his fastball velocity. A pre-draft scouting report may have read that his secondaries were his best pitches, while the fastball would sit in the 92 to 94 mph range with some question marks. Now, a fastball that consistently sits closer to the mid 90’s with the ability to touch 100 compliments those already elite secondary offerings, including a devastating slider. 

“It was a lot of velocity training in the offseason,” Eyanson said. “A lot of plyos, throwing heavier balls, pulldowns, just like running and really throwing the ball as hard as I can over and over. Pairing that up with stuff in the training room and good weight room sessions. I definitely think that the velocity is going to help me as a pitcher, just overall within my development with my fastball and all of my offspeeds. Just putting me in a better position to succeed.” 

“He has his identity,” Baysox manager Roberto Mercado said of Eyanson. “He knows what he wants to do, and he knows he’s better than a lot of other people.”

Part of Eyanson’s identity is an approach beyond his years. His junior season was spent at LSU, where he formed a devastating one-two punch with Kade Anderson, who was recently promoted to the big leagues in Seattle. 

The two learned a lot from each other, and have both cruised through their first years of professional baseball. 

“He’s super advanced,” Mercado said of Eyanson. “In between innings, he’s locked in, he sees stuff while he’s delivering a pitch and making adjustments. It’s really impressive. He made a compliment to Dom Keegan, who just caught him one time, and said ‘hey, I thought we did a really good job the other day. Let’s keep locking in and making sure we’re on the same page.’ So you’re seeing a lot less shakeoffs.” 

Those conversations with his catchers was something that Emma Tiedemann, who called Eyanson’s games with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs, noted. He’s “always asking for feedback,” she said.  

“I feel like they have the best view of how my pitches move and where it’s going to play against left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters,” Eyanson said. “When they’re catching my bullpens and seeing everything in the game, I think they have just the best perspective and the best vision as to how I am that day. So I think they give me the best feedback.” 

What have the notes looked like so far? 

“They talk about the slider being one of the main pitches,” Eyanson said with a smile. “Just being able to carry the fastball at the top and dot at the bottom when I want to. Being able to be aggressive with the curveball over the plate, I think it’s put me in a good spot to succeed.” 

Tiedemann also told me about one particular glove that the right-hander would wear. It was leather green, a reminder of where he one day hoped to be: Fenway Park, and its Green Monster. 

Eyanson is still working to make that dream a reality, but now, he’s hoping to jog out of the visiting dugout. 

“I’ve been doing some brainstorming,” Eyanson joked about finding a new glove. “I’ve been searching, making some fake gloves on the Rawlings website. Want to get either a black glove or an orange glove for sure, that’s on the radar.” 

A glove may be on his radar, but Eyanson, now the top prospect in the Orioles’ system, has put himself on everyone else’s.