Red Sox promote top pitching prospect Payton Tolle to Triple-A; David Sandlin and Connelly Early headline young arms that could impact big league roster

The Red Sox are promoting their top pitching prospect, left-hander Payton Tolle, to Triple-A Worcester, according to Beyond the Monster’s Andrew Parker.

Tolle has been dominating opposing Double-A lineups over the last month for the Portland Sea Dogs. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound lefty has been rapidly progressing through the Sox' system. Through five starts (six appearances), he’s 1-1 with a 1.67 ERA, one save, 37 strikeouts to seven walks, with a 0.74 WHIP. Overall this season, he’s made 15 starts while recording a 2.93 ERA with 116 strikeouts and 21 walks with a 1.02 WHIP.

Drafted in the second round, No. 50 overall, out of Texas Christian University in last summer’s amateur draft, Tolle has blown past both Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville; he’s established himself as the Sox’ top pitching prospect in their system.

SoxProspects.com ranks Tolle as the No. 1 prospect in the Red Sox system. He offers a four-pitch mix, highlighted by his fastball, which has increased in velocity since he became a pro. While in college, his heater sat around 90-91 mph, but since he’s joined the Red Sox organization, he averages between 94 and 97 mph and has topped out at 98.9 mph. His secondary offerings have been a work in progress. The lefty has been working on his curveball and changeup this season, getting bad swings from opposing batters while with the Sea Dogs. He’s also been tinkering with a slider/gyro combination with the hopes of hitting 90 mph with the pitch.

The hard-throwing left-hander could follow in the footsteps of current Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and former ace Chris Sale. Both lefties started their careers the same way with the White Sox. They debuted as relievers within a few months of being drafted. In Tolle’s case, it could potentially happen a year after he was drafted. Tolle did not make his professional debut after being drafted last summer. 

Sale made his first 79 appearances out of the bullpen between 2010 and 2011, before he eventually settled into the starting rotation for the White Sox and later the Red Sox. Crochet was drafted out of the first round in 2020 and was later promoted to the White Sox 26-man roster. He pitched in five games for the White Sox and then made 72 relief appearances before he pitched out of the rotation.

Tolle could be an impact arm down the stretch if the results from the lower levels of the system translate to Triple-A.

“Payton Tolle’s pitching really well in Double-A,” said Craig Breslow on the possibility Tolle could help the Red Sox this season. “We feel like we’ve got options.”

Tolle’s recent promotion to Triple-A comes on the heels of Boston elevating both right-handed pitcher David Sandlin and left-hander Connelly Early last month. All three pitchers could see big league time before the season comes to a close.

“A couple of guys, in Sandlin and Early,” Breslow said Sunday morning to reporters about the idea that both pitchers could offer big league depth. “I think the idea is to try and amass as much depth as we can, especially near-major league-ready depth, because we know at this point it’s a lot harder to transact and act.”

If the Sox look to promote Sandlin or Early, they could see time out of the bullpen.

“I think we’re at the point where any opportunity we have to bolster the team and give us a better chance to win, we’ve got to be open to it, and whether that’s Sandlin, Early, both, or neither, I think those are options,” Breslow said. “We’ll take a look at the way that we think their repertoires could potentially play out of the ‘pen. Sandlin is a guy that comes to mind in that it’s really powerful stuff, and with maybe a simplified approach, we feel like he could come in and just kind of overwhelm hitters with the stuff. And those conversations are ongoing.”

Sandlin allowed one run in five innings in his first outing for the WooSox last week. He boasts an impressive fastball that tops out at 99 mph and was one of the first young pitchers Breslow acquired as he began to build out a pitching infrastructure. Boston acquired Sandlin from the Royals for reliever John Schreiber two years ago.

It would make sense for the Red Sox to promote Sandlin to the bigs before the season comes to a close. He is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, and the club will need to protect him by adding the hard-throwing righty to the 40-man roster.

The Sox have other internal options that could help bolster the pitching staff over the final two months of the season. Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell, and Kyle Harrison are all in Triple-A and could be spot-starters.

Criswell was a prime example of how the Red Sox can mix-and-match pitchers, utilizing the tall righty on Friday night in the series opener against the Astros. In his first big league start of the season, Criswell held Houston to one run in seven innings, giving up seven hits while striking out four. He was incredibly efficient and threw 84 pitches in the outing. The Red Sox optioned Criswell following the game to make room for new starter Dustin May, who the club acquired from the Dodgers during the final hour leading up to the trade deadline. Criswell has had limited chances to pitch for the Red Sox this season, pitching six times in relief and owning a 5.06 ERA before his start.

Harrison has been stashed away in Worcester since he was acquired on Father’s Day from the Giants. He’s made seven starts for the WooSox and has recorded a 3-2 record with 29 strikeouts to 17 walks and a high 1.79 WHIP. He’s been working on his pitch mix in the minors, particularly a sinker and a different version of a cutter. At some point, the Red Sox will give Harrison an opportunity to contribute at the big league level. He has experience pitching out of the bullpen and has started for the Giants.

The Red Sox added May and Steven Matz at the trade deadline.

Matz made his Red Sox’ debut on Saturday, tossing a scoreless inning against the Astros. May will make his first start for the Sox on Wednesday in the series finale with the Royals.

May's last start came last Sunday while the Dodgers were in town. May was tagged for four runs off five hits in five innings, including giving up a big two-run blast to Alex Bregman, while taking the loss.

“He’s ready to go. Excited,” Alex Cora said. “I texted with Dave (Roberts) this morning about him. Everybody says he loves to compete, so he’s ready.

“He’s excited he’s gonna start. He told Bails (Andrew Bailey), and he told me he’ll do whatever we need him to do. That’s awesome, but we believe he can do the job as a starter. He can help us. His stuff is really good. Just a few adjustments. Organizations have different ideas for players, and hopefully, our ideas can help him.”

May was a candidate to lose his spot in the Dodgers rotation before the trade and comes to the Red Sox, where he will be relied upon to offer them key innings as they push to make the postseason.

“Definitely excited to get to work with them and hopefully nail some things out and get some better results,” May said this weekend to reporters at Fenway Park. “Most of my outings, I’m really good, and then I have a blow-up inning. So, just trying to limit that blow-up inning and keep it on, like, a lower level, like instead of it being like a four or five (run), maybe like a one or none.”

Despite not landing a big-time arm at the deadline like Joe Ryan or Sandy Alcantara, the Red Sox appear ready to lean on their internal depth that they’ve been developing, and these pitchers in Worcester could impact the big league club as Boston tries to now catch the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East.