Just two years ago, the Boston Red Sox paid a signing bonus of $450,000, the third-highest of any international amateur free agent they signed in 2024, to then-17-year-old Dominican outfielder Edwin Brito. But on Friday, the teenage prospect’s major league dreams came to a sudden end when the Red Sox decided to release him.
Brito’s release was first reported by Andrew Parker of SoxProspects.com, and came as a surprise after Brito had made an impressive professional debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2024, putting up an .811 OPS with eight home runs in 51 games. But the now-19-year-old took a step back in his first stateside experience last season.
Still, despite recording just 14 hits in 99 at-bats for the Red Sox rookie-level team in the Florida Complex League, Boston’s decision-makers showed little patience with the teenage prospect’s adjustment to his first baseball experience outside of his home country, giving Brito his walking papers after only 83 games in the organization.
The Red Sox had not made a public statement about Brito’s release as of Friday night, leaving fans with no information as to what caused the seemingly abrupt decision if there were any factors beyond his disappointing performance in his short 2025 season.
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The stocky, 5-foot-11, 195-pound Brito was not around long enough to achieve a prospect ranking from MLB Pipeline, Baseball America or anywhere else. But a SoxProspects.com scouting report noted that Brito showed a “lot of swing-and-miss in his profile, but when he makes contact, hits the ball very hard. Produced some of the best exit velocities in the organization’s 2024 IFA class.”
The report noted that the right-handed Brito, after two seasons, was “still in the early stages of developing his approach,” but now he appears unlikely to get a chance to develop any further.
The 2024 Red Sox international free agent class was topped by Vladimir Asencio, another right-handed Dominican outfielder who received a bonus of an even $1 million. MLB Pipeline ranked him No. 34 in that year’s international prospect class, but the Red Sox have yet to bring the 19-year-old to the United States, allowing him to play in the Dominican Summer League for two seasons so far.
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