The Boston Red Sox have a trio of talented young pitching prospects generating plenty of buzz at the Triple-A level following the promotions of Payton Tolle, David Sandlin and Connelly Early last month.
Things got a little more interesting when it was widely reported this week that Sandlin would join Worcester’s bullpen, and if successful, could earn a spot on Boston’s roster before the end of the season. And while the plan moving forward for Sandlin appears to be his development into a hard-throwing relief pitcher, Tolle and Early will continue to pitch exclusively out of the starting rotation.
Making his second start since his promotion on July 29, Early looked impressive during his five innings of work on Friday. Despite being charged with two wild pitches in his start, the 23-year-old left-hander would allow three hits, one walk and two earned runs, while striking out seven on 79 pitches to earn his first Triple-A victory.
Early found himself in a bit of trouble during the first two innings with Buffalo plating two runs on a sacrifice fly and a solo home run. He would later allow a single in the top of the third, and issued his lone walk during the fourth inning while continuing to rack up strikeouts along the way. It was a vast improvement for Early after walking five batters in his Triple-A debut on August 2.
His four-seam fastball sat between 95-96 mph during the first two innings, but largely abandoned the pitch in favor of his slider, sinker and changeup for the remainder of his start. His final pitch of the game came on a 79.3 mph curveball that resulted in a line-out to third base in a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
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In 71 appearances split between Portland and Worcester this season, Early has a record of 8-2 with a 2.46 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings. The Red Sox selected him in the fifth round of the 2023 Major League Baseball draft.
