On paper, Cole Ragans looks like exactly the type of pitcher the Red Sox should be chasing.
He’s young, controllable, left-handed, and capable of missing bats at a level few starters can reach. For a franchise that has spent years trying to stabilize the top of its rotation — not just fill innings — Ragans checks nearly every modern box.
But there’s a difference between making sense and being attainable. And that distinction is what ultimately defines the conversation.
Ragans’ rise has been driven by traits the Red Sox have quietly prioritized under Craig Breslow: velocity that plays in the strike zone, secondaries that neutralize platoon advantages, and an arsenal that holds up the deeper a game goes. He isn’t overpowering in the traditional sense, but he overwhelms hitters in subtler, more sustainable ways.
Start with the fastball. Sitting comfortably in the mid-90s and reaching higher when needed, it’s not defined by elite shape so much as how often it’s thrown with intent. Ragans pounds the zone, works ahead, and still generates empty swings at a rate typically reserved for the game’s best heaters. Hitters don’t see many mistakes, and even when they know it’s coming, they struggle to do damage. It’s a pitch that plays because of command, confidence, and sequencing — exactly the kind of fastball that translates beyond the regular season.
Where Ragans truly separates himself, though, is with his changeup.
Against right-handed hitters, it’s not a chase-only weapon buried below the zone. He throws it often, throws it early, and throws it for strikes — and hitters still can’t touch it. The pitch lives in hittable areas far more than most elite changeups, yet it continues to generate swings and misses at an elite rate. That combination is rare and sustainable. It’s why Ragans avoids the platoon issues that derail so many left-handed starters.
The rest of the arsenal reinforces the same theme: efficiency over excess.
Early in counts, Ragans mixed in a curveball mostly as a disruptor. It wasn’t a pitch he consistently landed for strikes, and it gradually faded from his mix as the season wore on. Still, hitters never punished it. There was little hard contact, suggesting the pitch did enough to change eye levels even if it wasn’t something he could rely on. Long term, it wouldn’t be surprising if the curveball disappears entirely as his arsenal tightens.
The slider, however, is non-negotiable.
It functioned almost exclusively as a finishing pitch, and it behaved like one. When Ragans needed an out — particularly against right-handed hitters — the slider delivered. The swing-and-miss profile was elite, the kind of putaway offering that ends plate appearances outright.
Taken together, the picture is clear. Ragans doesn’t overwhelm hitters with a deep mix of average pitches. He dominates with a streamlined arsenal: a fastball that misses bats in the zone, a changeup that neutralizes righties even when thrown for strikes, and a slider that finishes at-bats. Anything else feels optional.
That’s the profile of a pitcher teams quietly build playoff rotations around.
So why isn’t this an obvious move for Boston?
Context — and recent moves — matter.
The Red Sox have already
