FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Boston Red Sox will send one of the top pitching prospects in baseball to the mound for their first Grapefruit League game.
Left-hander Payton Tolle, who debuted last August, will start Saturday across town at the Minnesota Twins. Tyler Samaniego, Garrett Whitlock and Ryan Watson are also scheduled to pitch Saturday .
Right-hander Brayan Bello has the ball for the home preseason opener Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, followed by lefty prospect Connelly Early on Monday (at Rays), Ranger Suárez on Tuesday (home, Pirates), Johan Oviedo Wednesday (at Twins) and Garrett Crochet Thursday (home, Rays).
Bello, Suárez and Whitlock are among over a dozen Red Sox major and minor leaguers who are ahead of their usual preseason schedules on account of next month’s World Baseball Classic. Bello will pitch for Team Dominican Republic, Whitlock is on Team USA’s pitching staff, and Suárez is one of four Red Sox who will represent Venezuela.
Masataka Yoshida will only play in Friday’s exhibition game against Northeastern University and Saturday against the Twins before leaving camp to report to Team Japan. The rest of the Red Sox WBC players won’t report to their teams until March 1.
Ahead of official spring training games, right-hander Tyler Uberstine will start Friday’s annual exhibition game against the Northeastern University Huskies.
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