The draft has been good to the Red Sox over the past three years. Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel, the club’s highest paid selections in their respective drafts, have emerged as not only the top prospects in Boston’s system, but among the best in the sport as a whole.

Now, the Red Sox hope to add another name to that list.

The 2024 MLB Draft kicks off Sunday at 6 p.m., and the Red Sox will pick No. 12 overall, once again putting them in position to land one of the top players in the class.

Will the Red Sox keep investing in middle infield talent? Or could they select a pitcher in the first round for the first time since Tanner Houck in 2017? Here are a few candidates draft evaluators believe could be options for Boston, and why they might be a good fit for the Red Sox.

Christian Moore, INF, Tennessee

While the Red Sox have made clear their desire to bolster their pitching, the consensus among draft experts is they’ll opt for another position player at No. 12.

If they do, Tennessee’s Christian Moore seems the most popular candidate.

Projected to the Red Sox by ESPN, Bleacher Report and MLB.com in recent mock drafts, Moore has been a consistent performer throughout his time at Tennessee. He batted over .300 with double-digit home runs all three seasons, and he was a standout in the Volunteers’ run to the College World Series championship this spring.

“His strong frame and 55-hit, 60-power offensive profile give him a real shot at being a 30-homer threat at the next level,” Bleacher Report writes.

This spring the 6-foot-1, 216-pound second baseman hit .375 with 34 home runs and 74 RBI in 72 games, and he also posted a .451 on-base percentage and 1.248 OPS. He also greatly improved his strikeout and contact rates, and though he doesn’t boast impressive arm strength he’s a capable enough infielder who should be able to handle second base at a high level.

The obvious question fans might have: why would the Red Sox draft yet another infielder when they need pitching? There’s two reasons. One, pitching prospects are inherently risky so the club could reasonably decide it’s better off investing top picks in talented position players who are more likely to pan out. And two, many of the infielders the club has drafted recently are either approaching the majors or could soon be traded, so even though the Red Sox have a glut of infielders in the minors now, that may not still be the case this time next year.

Unlike with the NFL and NBA, where draft picks can reasonably be expected to contribute right away, the MLB Draft is really more about taking the best player available. Plus, as an established college star, Moore is both a high-floor standout who could shoot up through the system the way Teel has over the past year, and a guy who may still be scratching the surface of his potential.

East Carolina’s Trey Yesavage is one of the top pitchers available in the 2024 MLB Draft. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)

Trey Yesavage, RHP, East Carolina

Let’s say the Red Sox do take a pitcher with their first pick, who could that wind up being? There seems to be a consensus top three arms — Wake Forest’s Chase Burns, Florida’s Jac Caglianone and Arkansas’ Hagen Smith — who will almost certainly go in the top 10 and likely won’t be available for the Red Sox at No. 12. After that, the next top guy who is realistically attainable is likely East Carolina’s Trey Yesavage.

A 6-foot-4 right-hander, Yesavage is coming off a terrific junior year at ECU in which he went 11-1 with a 2.03 ERA and 145 strikeouts over 93.1 innings. He also posted a microscopic 0.868 WHIP, and late in the season he came back from a partially collapsed lung to pitch in the NCAA Regional.

Yesavage also posted great numbers as a sophomore after transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation, and evaluators say he’s consistently shown improvement throughout his college career.

“Yesavage was a hard thrower who had touched 96 mph in high school, but at the time he was raw in other areas,” Baseball America writes. “Now, after three years at ECU, Yesavage is one of the most polished and well-rounded pitchers in the 2024 draft.”

Keith Law of The Athletic, who has Yesavage to the Red Sox in his latest mock draft, describes him as a hard thrower who can fill up the strike zone with both his four-seamer and splitter, a wipeout pitch Law says can be a go-to weapon against both lefties and righties. Though his breaking ball needs work, Yesavage has all the tools to succeed in the professional ranks and if drafted would likely become one of Boston’s top pitching prospects the moment he joins the organization.

North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt is the first power conference player to hit 60 home runs and steal 70 bases in his college career. (AP Photo/Mike Buscher)

Vance Honeycutt, OF, UNC

Out of all the potential position players the Red Sox could target, UNC’s Vance Honeycutt would represent one of the biggest high-risk, high-reward propositions.

Honeycutt is one of the most accomplished players in college baseball history. The 6-foot-3 center fielder is UNC’s all-time home run leader with 65 bombs in three seasons, and according to the school he is the first power conference player to hit more than 60 homers and steal more than 70 bases in his career.

This past season he batted .318 with 28 homers, 70 RBI, 28 stolen bases and a 1.124 OPS in 62 games, and on top of his historic statistical production Honeycutt is also an excellent athlete who is known as one of the nation’s premier defensive outfielders.

That’s a lot to like, and normally you’d think a player like that would be in the running for No. 1 overall. The problem, as Baseball America puts it, is Honeycutt’s extremely questionable offensive approach.

“Honeycutt has oscillated between a highly productive hitter with loads of strikeouts and one who can reign in the whiffs but at the cost of his power output,” writes Baseball America, which has Honeycutt going to the Red Sox in its latest mock draft. “He hit over .300 for the first time in his career in 2024, though that came with a 28% strikeout rate. He has significant contact questions, particularly against secondary stuff. Honeycutt’s at-bats lead scouts to wonder about his pitch recognition at times, but he’s as capable as anyone of hammering a mistake pitch out of the park to left field or right-center.”

Essentially, if Honeycutt reaches his full potential he could be a game-changing All-Star in the mold of George Springer or Jim Edmonds. The problem is those tools won’t be worth much if he can’t make consistent contact, something we’ve seen recently in Boston with Bobby Dalbec.

Florida State’s James Tibbs is one of the most prolific hitters in this year’s MLB Draft. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

James Tibbs, OF, Florida State

If we ignore team philosophies and go strictly off the major draft evaluators’ big boards, the consensus seems to be the Red Sox would come away with James Tibbs. The Florida State outfielder is ranked as the No. 12 overall draft prospect by both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, and while Tibbs is a more one-dimensional prospect than Honeycutt, he might also be a safer bet.

Why? Tibbs can really hit.

In three seasons with the Seminoles Tibbs has batted .338 for his career with a 1.147 OPS. This season he did even better, batting .363 with 28 home runs, 95 RBI and a 1.264 OPS in 66 games, and he also dominated the Cape Cod League last summer.

“It will be Tibbs’ bat that gets him drafted in the first few rounds. The left-handed hitter is confident and smart at the plate, with an approach he’s improved over his time at Florida State, cutting his strikeout rate and upping his walk rate considerably from his freshman to his sophomore seasons, and even more so this spring,” writes MLB Pipeline. “He punishes fastballs and has been showing the ability to get to his average power and drive the ball to all fields, though he’s struggled more with breaking stuff in the past.”

Defensively, Tibbs doesn’t bring as much to the table and will most likely be limited to either left field or first base as a professional. Still, the Florida State star should be a low-risk, high-floor performer who could give the Red Sox yet another outfield option in the near future.

Top prep baseball star Konnor Griffin, center, poses with Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Luka Nacua, left, and Duke basketball star Cooper Flagg, right, at the Gatorade National Players of the Year gala. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, Jackson Prep (Miss.)

Over the past few years the Red Sox have certainly had a type. Their top selections in three of the last four drafts were high school infielders, and after selecting catcher Kyle Teel at No. 14 overall last year, four of the club’s next five selections were shortstops, including back-to-back high school standouts in the second and third rounds.

Until they demonstrate otherwise, maybe the safest bet is to presume they’ll go that route again.

If the Red Sox do stick with the prep route, the most obvious choice would seemingly be Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin. Regarded as one of the top two high school prospects in the draft, Griffin boasts a combination of speed, power and overall athleticism few others in the class can match.

“A 6-foot-4, 210-pound dynamo, Griffin has excelled as a hitter and pitcher with a tremendous package of athleticism, physical upside, tools and track record of performance,” writes Baseball America. “He’s a bouncy athlete with plus-plus speed, raw power that should become plus and plus arm strength that could also become a 70-grade tool in the future.”

This past season Griffin stole 85 bases and earned Mississippi’s Gatorade High School Player of the Year award, and on top of his accolades as a position player, he also touches mid-90s as a pitcher and could conceivably offer upside on the mound as well. More likely the LSU commit will stick to either shortstop or center field, with outfield seemingly being a better fit long-term given his sheer size.

Griffin obviously brings a lot to the table, but the question of whether or not he’ll land in Boston probably won’t be up to the Red Sox. Most mock drafts have him going within the top 10, but technically the same could have been said for Teel last year as well, so stranger things have happened. Regardless of what Boston’s plans are going in, if Griffin is still there at No. 12 it would be hard to pass on his talent.