Red Sox to promote OF prospect Zach Ehrhard to Double-A Portland

With Jhostynxon Garcia set to be promoted to Triple-A Worcester, the Red Sox are elevating fellow outfield prospect Zach Ehrhard from High-A Greenville to Double-A Portland, according to Andrew Parker of Beyond the Monster.

Ehrhard, 22, is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 47 prospect in Boston’s farm system. The right-handed hitter batted .342/.471/.459 with 10 doubles, one home run, 22 RBIs, 24 runs scored, seven stolen bases, 26 walks, and 27 strikeouts in 31 games (140 plate appearances) for Greenville to begin the 2025 season. That includes a ridiculous .418/.484/.582 slash line this month.

Among qualified hitters in the South Atlantic League, Ehrhard ranks second in batting average, third in on-base percentage, sixth in walk rate (18.6 percent), seventh in OPS (.930), 11th in strikeout rate (19.3 percent), and 15th in slugging percentage, per MiLB.com’s leaderboards.

Defensively, Ehrhard saw playing time at all three outfield positions while with Greenville. The athletic 5-foot-10, 190-pounder logged 98 innings in left field, 86 1/3 innings in right field, and 52 innings in center field, committing zero errors and recording two assists (both from right) in 43 total chances. He also made four starts at DH.

A Florida native, Ehrhard was originally selected by the Red Sox in the 13th round of the 2021 draft out of Wharton High School in Tampa. Rather than go pro out of high school, he played collegiately at Oklahoma State for three seasons before re-entering the draft as a junior in 2024. He was then, once again, taken by the Red Sox, only this time in the fourth round (115th overall). As such, he signed for an under-slot $500,000 last July and made the jump straight to Greenville for his professional debut after putting pen to paper.

Though he struggled some in his first stint with the Drive (.459 OPS in 22 games) last year, Ehrhard has shown out of the gate this season why Baseball America tabbed him as the “best pure hitter” in Boston’s 2024 draft class. That superlative will surely be put to the test once he arrives in Portland to go up against more advanced competition at the Double-A level in the Eastern League. Still, this new challenge comes at an exciting and opportune time.

In being promoted, Ehrhard will join his older brother, Drew, on the Sea Dogs’ roster. Drew, 26, is in his third season with the Red Sox organization after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Division II Tampa in July 2023. The two brothers will now have the chance to be teammates and possibly share the same field again as soon as Tuesday, when Portland opens a six-game series against Reading at Hadlock Field.

“I would love that,” Zach said of the possibility of playing with Drew when speaking with MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith last week. “ We’ve already talked about it a bunch because we got to be on the same team in spring training a couple of times, and that was a lot of fun. So hopefully we get to do it again.”