It was only about a year ago that Payton Tolle was selected by the Red Sox in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft, and it’s only been four months since he made his in-game professional debut.
Now, Tolle is officially just one step away from the majors.
Tolle’s incredible rise through the Red Sox system continued this weekend when the 22-year-old left-hander was promoted to Triple-A Worcester. Tolle’s promotion came after just six outings at Double-A Portland, during which he posted a 1.67 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 27 innings.
“He was hitting the development goals that we’d laid out for him and his performance has been awesome, so we thought he’d be better challenged in Triple-A,” said Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni. “I know it wasn’t a terribly long period of time in Double-A but we think he’s ready for the challenge.”
Toboni, who is heavily involved in the club’s scouting and player development efforts, said they always tell young players that there’s no set timetable for how quickly or slowly you can move through the ranks and that Tolle is a perfect example of what can be possible. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound southpaw bypassed Low-A entirely out of spring training and dominated High-A Greenville, and after a similar showing in Double-A he’s now potentially one phone call away from the big league pitching staff.
Including his time in Greenville, Tolle has posted a 2.93 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 76.2 innings over 17 professional outings. He now ranks as Boston’s No. 3 prospect according to Baseball America and will assume the top spot following the imminent graduation of Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer, and he is also up to No. 49 on their Top 100 Prospects Rankings after starting the season unranked.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora called Tolle’s rise “impressive,” but while he doesn’t believe the bullpen necessarily needs a boost, he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that any of the club’s recent Triple-A call-ups — a group that includes Tolle as well as fellow prospects Connelly Early and David Sandlin — could impact the big league club this season.
“You never know what can happen as far as injuries, people struggling in the upcoming weeks,” Cora said. “If they’re good and we believe they can contribute, then we’ll see what happens.”
Story named Player of the Week
Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story has been named American League Player of the Week after a monster six-game stretch in which he batted .391 (9 for 23) with three home runs, eight RBI, four doubles, two walks, seven runs scored, a stolen base and a 1.419 OPS over six games.
Over that stretch Story led the majors in slugging (.957), had four multi-hit games, homered in consecutive games and made a crucial defensive play in the 10th inning of Friday night’s 2-1 win over the Houston Astros.
Overall Story came into the week batting .256 with 18 home runs and 69 RBI, and he is also a perfect 18 for 18 on stolen base attempts this season.
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