The Red Sox will call up pitching prospect Payton Tolle to make his big league debut tomorrow, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It’ll be a fantastic pitching matchup, as he goes against Paul Skenes in a series opener at Fenway Park. Skenes will coincidentally be matched against a pitcher making his MLB debut for the second straight outing, as the Rockies tabbed McCade Brown as his opponent last weekend.
It’s the latest step in a breakout season for Tolle. Boston signed the 6’6″ southpaw to a $2MM bonus after drafting him in the second round out of TCU last summer. They kept him at their complex in his draft year rather than assigning him to a minor league affiliate. That allowed them to manage his innings going into this year.
The Sox certainly didn’t expect Tolle would be in the big leagues a year later. He began this season in High-A, striking out 38% of opponents over 11 appearances. That earned him a move to Double-A in June. Tolle pitched his way past that level within six weeks, recording a 1.67 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 27 innings. He has been at Triple-A Worcester for all of three weeks.
Tolle hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down at the top minor league level. He has fanned 17 hitters with a pair of walks in his first 15 Triple-A frames. Opponents have swung through 14% of his offerings in his three starts. Tolle’s fastball has sat in the 95-96 MPH range. He also uses a low-90s cutter, a slider, curveball and changeup among a deep arsenal.
Along the way, Tolle has vaulted towards the top of the organization’s prospect rankings. He’s second in the system at Baseball America behind Marcelo Mayer. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him third among Sox prospects and 71st overall when he updated his Top 100 list shortly before the trade deadline. (Mayer had graduated from the FanGraphs list, where Tolle was behind Franklin Arias and Kyson Witherspoon.) Last week, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN ranked Tolle as a top 35 overall prospect and had him second after Arias in the system.
While the 22-year-old has certainly impressed evaluators, the aggressive promotion is also related to Boston’s rotation woes. Walker Buehler pitched his way out of the starting five and is locked into a bullpen role for the rest of the season. Richard Fitts appeared to get the first opportunity to replace Buehler, but he came out of Monday’s game with arm discomfort. He’s on the 15-day injured list with arm neuritis. Swingman Cooper Criswell landed on the minor league injured list last week.
The Sox needed to promote a fifth starter. The decision came down to Tolle versus Kyle Harrison. The latter is already on the 40-man roster and seemed to be the favorite for the job. Harrison has still yet to get a look from the Sox since they acquired him as the headliner of the Rafael Devers return. He has a solid 3.65 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts, but he’s walked nearly 12% of opposing hitters with a league average 21.5% strikeout rate. Boston evidently feels Tolle gives them a better shot to win.
Dustin May had been lined up for Friday’s turn through the rotation. He’ll move back a day and take the ball against Johan Oviedo on Saturday. Lucas Giolito will pitch the series finale with Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet on turn for the first two games of next week’s series against the Guardians. Tolle would be lined up for the final game of that set if he gets a second start.
Boston will select his contract tomorrow. They can open a 40-man roster spot by moving Mayer to the 60-day injured list. He underwent season-ending wrist surgery earlier this month. They will need to make an active roster move involving a pitcher. Assuming they don’t want to designate Buehler for assignment, they’ll probably option southpaw Brennan Bernardino back to Triple-A. Teams will be able to carry a 14th pitcher beginning on September 1.
The Red Sox are now committed to carrying Tolle on the 40-man throughout the offseason. That’s the biggest roster consideration, as he would not have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter. Tolle will not reach 45 days on an MLB roster this year. He’ll remain a rookie going into next season, keeping open the possibility of earning the Sox a future draft pick if they carry him for a full service year in 2026. Tolle will certainly meet the prospect criteria to be eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive.
Like I said a week ago. Slayton & Tolle will give this team a real shot in the “arms”.
Slaten
It’s Slayton because he slays a ton
Time for the other teams to Pay the Tolle!
Probably Bernardino back down until roster expansion?
Once again, another Top prospect Boston drafted. Why does my team have so much trouble in this department???
Didn’t used to be like this. Red Sox developed zero internal starting pitching. Member of the big Clay Bucholz and Joba Chamberlain match up? That was the last guy for the Red Sox and maybe John Lester before him. I know I’m missing some names but you catch my drift. Yankees have had plenty of those guys Red Sox not so much.
There was a period of lean years after Lester, Papelbon and to a lesser extent Buchholz. But Bello is looking like blossoming into a good recent internal development.
Simon – I recall the days of Win Remmerswal, Jim Wright, Mike Nagy and Kevin Morton. Those were ugly days.
Bello
LET
Win Remmererswal… WOW …..I remember seeing his profile in the 1976 Red Sox official yearbook.
Gerry Stephenson, Dave Morehead…
Provost – As I recall, Stephenson couldn’t stay off the DL. Morehead had a ton of promise, but he also was frequently hurt.
Morehead pitched a complete game shutout in his major league debut, and then a year later spun a no hitter. Then arm troubles began to set in.
The Yankees don’t have the patience to develop young pitching prospects, so they just give them to other teams (G. Whitlock).
Cashman seems to ignore the draft. Focus on the 30 year old free agents kind of guy.
Mlb – Your team didn’t suck 5 of the last 6 years.
Didn’t a Yankees pitcher win ROY last year? What about Schittler doing what’s he done? Warren has held down 140 innings or so for a playoff team, and looks promising. Schmidt got hurt, but he’s nowhere near a bust.
Too funny to lament how great this guy is going to be before he throws a pitch in the majors.
Muss-all fans are alike. Half the fans root for the team, and half the fans the fans think they have the worst owner, the worst GM, the worst manager in BB. And generally want a $200m+ payroll, but haven’t bought a ticket in ten years.
MLBNYFAN cheer up you might of got your best pitcher of the future from the Red Sox p, ERC. He’s been fantastic for you my guess you see him next year sometime he’s going to be a good one. It hurt to trade a talent like that but the Red Sox farm is so loaded with pitching barely even felt it and we needed a catcher.
It could be a classic win/win.
Bruin – What do you think of Teel? I know you liked him, he’s been tearing it up like Big Dumper …. .500 BA and 1.246 OPS since August 18.
I love Kyle Teel the White Sox got a really good player. The kid could fall out of bed and hit a line drive. The kid is real and a potential .300 hitting catcher defense is the key with him. He’s going to hit. It’s a question of the defense. He will never be Narvaez behind the dish but he’s going to be a really good hitter.
FPG the White Sox did good in the trade for Crochet the key to that trade, from the White Sox perspective, is Montgomery.
Wrongly guessed it would be Kyle Ferguson. Good luck to the kid against Skenes!
Yeah, me too. I thought it would be Harrison. The guy we got from the Giants.
Should be an exciting matchup. Look forward to watching it. Let’s see if the kid has a nice outing to start things off for his career. You really don’t know what to expect when the big lights are on.
Gary – Yeah remember Tolle had a rough first game in AAA.
But the Pirates aren’t exactly talented.
fever- Pirates may not be overly talented, but have played much better ball of late- took 2 of 3 against the Jays, swept 4 against Colorado and split a 4 game set against the Cards.
Yeah, it’s the Rockies and the Cards have had a down season, but 2 of 3 against the Jays is a feather in their cap.
I always fear these kinds of series (Pirates and Guardians at home then D’backs and A’s on the road before the big 3 game set at Yankee Stadium) the Sox are heading into- will they keep their foot on the gas or will they play to the level of their opponents? If they stay hot, there’s no reason they can’t go 9-3 or 8-4… God forbid if they start to lose….
I won’t say more- I’m already eating crow- I assumed the Sox would’ve been dead and buried by the trade deadline. They weren’t playing inspired ball at that point and let’s face it- the trade deadline gave you no reason to think they’d take off.. I wanted the team to be sellers- they might as well have been…
Maybe the dawn of the new Roman empire sparked them. whatever the case, it’s been a fun ride.
FPG
Tolle had a rough 1st inning after that he has been very good. Ii believe he has only given up 1 maybe 2 runs over the next 14 innings.
That was a great double play started by Story yesterday. This is the Story we all wanted when he signed here . It’s finally happening. A leader,run producer,base stealer ,an above average defensive beast.
@smkelly1970: Yankees come to Fenway after the road trip to Phoenix and West Sacramento
cdc – You described Story perfectly!
What do you think is wrong with Bregman? Is he still injured? Hard to tell because he’s not on base, so we can’t see him run.
He’s only 8 for his last 38 with just one double, no triples, no homeruns, and one RBI.
FPG
Bregman.. hopefully he is not injured. Maybe he needs a day or 2 … Long season, everyone slumps… Excellent article by Chad Finn on Boston.com, comparing Roman Anthony and Fred Lynn. ( my all time favorite) Lynn was a beast at Fenway….
I don’t know who I am more excited to see tonight Tolle or Skenes… The Pirates have a foundation of an excellent young,starting staff with Skenes, Bubba Chandler,J. Jones ,B.Ashcraft as well as Keller.
smk – Every team has decent/good stretches, with Skenes the Pirates always have a chance to win games he starts.
Teams that are already eliminated often do approach games with contenders as a way to be spoilers, it’s the eliminated team’s version of the postseason. But keep in mind winning is not a priority for eliminated teams, they have shifted to evaluation mode. They will not be putting their best team on the field very often.
With the Sox it’s all about the pitching, they are what’s carrying the team. The offense hasn’t been good, they’ve scored only 45 runs in their last 11 games but 12 of those runs came in one game. That means 33 runs in 10 games …. not good. And there’s nobody on the IL that will come back and help.
Roman absolutely provided the spark that I had anticipated, as did Marcelo for a bit. But it’s all about the pitching, 3 out of the Top 5 ERA in the league since June 1st is pretty amazing.
I didn’t want to be sellers because I knew the league was garbage this year.
They’re only two shortstops in baseball who have at least 22 homers and 22 steals. Francisco Lindor at 25/24 and Story at 22/23.
smkelly1970
Pirates are good at home but terrible on the road.
steve- you’re right. I stand corrected.
x.com/RedSox/status/1961525734964355504
The loss was just a loss, but not sitting the kid after the 5th was just such an amateur move. And how does everyone in the world know Weissert sucks at Fenway besides our manager? Bringing Slaten in right after was a slap in the face. I hate Alex Cora so much.
Sean- I agree that Alex needed to either sit Tolle after the 5th when he had not given up any runs or have a better plan for the 6th (either remove him after giving up a hit or give him the opportunity to get out of the jam when he still had not given up a run). It sucks for Tolle that they brought in a reliever who is not always reliable and he ends up going from a .000 ERA to over .3 thanks to Weissert letting both players on base score. Tolle certainly could not have done any worse than Weissert did in that situation and may have gotten out of it without giving up a run.
If his song isn’t “For Whom The Bell Tolls” I’m going to be very upset.
As long as it’s not the theme song for Peyton‘s place.
Yes! I hope that’s NOT it more than Metallica.
Good call
Goth – What is Peyton’s Place?
TV show in the 60s.
His stuff translates to the MLB. Very excited to see this matchup! Kid threw 90-92 coming out of college LAST YEAR! Now can hit 99. But it’s the extension that is so elite. His 95mph feels like 100+
Let’s go!
Red Sox fans are grinning from ear to ear. Everything working out quite nicely for them. I would like to see them take this all the way to 1st in the East. For some reason I still can’t comprehend the BJ’s as sustaining all the way to the end; but they have sustained quite well thus far…September will be fun!
The only thing better than October baseball is September baseball! Gonna be a fun home stretch!
The best baseball is watching the Red Sox knock the Yankees out in the playoffs.Doesn’t matter which round.Always brings a big smile to my face.
Let’s hope he lives up to the hype. Not that he is not going to be a successful starter, but this was an extremely quick rise to the majors and he must be feeling the pressure. No doubt this is going to be must watch tv for baseball fans. Hoping he shines on the big stage.
It’s been a shockingly good season. Story has been healthy and has been on fire in the last three months. Bello has finally shown the frontline grit we’ve been hoping for.. Our defense has gone from being a joke to one of the better ones in the league (FanGraphs numbers). And despite the Devers trade looking like a white flag for the season… well the Sox got better without him. Giants somehow got worse.
The Jays are still likely to take the division despite having to play the Brewers this weekend. But the fact the Sox can likely take a wild card spot is huge and unexpected.
I love that Story is finally giving us the healthy season we were all hoping for. He’s been huge for us.
Hoping Story doesn’t have any setbacks this year and can showcase the player we were hoping we were getting when he was signed to that big contract.
They should run the division in the coming years.
You sound like last years Baltimore fan. Stuff happens.
Everyone knew Baltimore needed pitching they had a lot of good young position players but not a lot of depth in pitching. A couple of key pitching injuries and some underperformance on a some key young players and they were cooked.
Boston has a ton of pitching coming. I expect Tolle to eventually sit there with Crochet as monsters at the top of the rotation but he’s hardly the only pitching prospect coming. This farm system is loaded at every level with pitching talent and Breslow deserves some credit for that. It’s an exciting time to be Red Sox fan.
Tall lefty who misses bats and doesn’t walk many batters. Intriguing.
Don’t forget the most extension in baseball it must feel to the hitter like he’s realeasing the ball on top of them.
Tomorrow night’s game has officially become must watch tv. Tolle making his MLB debut and Skenes making his first career start in Fenway, this should not be missed
Fenway is gonna be rocking. What a great environment for Tolle’s first start.
Sox have knocked around a few aces this year so I hope they get aggressive vs Skenes. Jump on first pitches. Teams do that to Crochet once in a while.
LETS GOOOOOOO!
Tolle has struggled in his first appearance at the next level twice this year. So starting against the pirates is a smart move.
Looking forward to a 2027 rotation of Crochet, Tolle, Witherspoon and Bello.
I’d like to see them add at least one more established top of the rotation arm in the offseason. Whether it’s trading for Joe Ryan or signing Shane Bieber, I think it’s a smart move with all the young up-and-coming arms they have. Giolito may walk after this season, so it makes sense that they’d bring in another established arm to replace him. No more rehab or rebound candidates like Walker Buehler or Patrick Sandoval. Add one more bona fide stud to this rotation and it will be a fun rotation to watch for the next few years.
I agree but I think with Bieber you need to be sure he is fully recovered. He has only pitched a couple of games since coming back and during his recovery he had setbacks along the way. Someone like Ryan would be a no brainer if the asking price was not crazy. I hope they will eventually learn their lesson about overspending on reclamation projects, because they could have signed an ace with the amount of money they have spent on questionable comeback candidates over the past 5 years.
2027? Might be summer 2026.
Perhaps he’s going on a 2026 walkabout.
Even better!
Tolle is the oldest looking rookie since Greg Oden. He seriously looks like a 50 year old plumber.
Yes, and to me, Roman Anthony looks like he’s 30 at times.
He didn’t get a birth certificate until he was 7. Grew up in a very religious community which is why he didn’t read until he was 17. Very creepy religious group that pushes weird marriage stuff even more than Mormons.
Glad this dude escaped those weirdos and has been successful.
Never can tell what is satire anymore… but you’ve got me curious lol. Post link.
There is an extreme religious sect (albeit a very small one) here in NC/SC where I live that is absolutely a cult, and many of their weird “traditions” come out when someone decides to leave. Restrictions on education and forced marriages are just the tip of the iceberg with them too
I’m as excited as anyone, but I feel for Bernadino if that is indeed the roster move. Guy has done everything you could possibly ask of him, from role to aggressively heavy usage, and continues to perform well and attack hitters. He doesn’t deserve to be a shuttle arm with the track record that he has established at this point. Both he and Weissert are high end middle relievers who would regularly pitch the 7th on a sizable handful of teams.
Agree on Bernardino, not sure about Weissert. He hasn’t been as consistent. But they have an abundance of lefty relievers before they got Matz who has looked good. So that’s baseball
This is part of being the guy with options. It helps Bernie to hold onto to his place on the 40 man but at the cost of going back to AAA when a spot is needed.
The good news is that Bernie can come back up on Monday (Sept 1st) when the rosters expand.
I say DFA Buehler and keep Bernardino around. But even if they do send him down, he’ll be back up when rosters expand in a few days.
I think they still need to wait 15 days after optioning a player, even with roster expansion. I believe the only exception remains replacement of an injured player. Sounds like you all got the spirit of the comment, though – it’s a grind for guys at the end of rosters and it just sucks that because of roster rules and service time, a guy can do everything right but still lose his job. That’s the game, it is what it is. Just wanna give Bernie his due. Big fan
They may like Buehler for now because he could be a longman.
It’s not really about what he “derserves” and more about the options he had. Front office moved him down to get rested, not demoted for poor performance. Weird set of circumstances with guys getting hurt and others coming back played a role too. He will get rewarded this offseason with a new contract I believe. He has been steady as a rock and deserves every dollar they give him. Also remember our front office is full of boneheads too.
It it just me…. But doesTolle looks like Nacho Libre??Mmm nachos….
Love this dude’s story. Couldn’t read until he was 17 and now a big leaguer! Best of luck!
Zack Kelly DFA???
Maybe Marcelo Mayer to the 60 day IL.
Yeah thats more likely
Mayer will be the 40 man roster move. Buehler will be the 26 man roster move.
Payton’s a tool
Pitching marches on!!
For whom the bell Tolles!!!!!
I didn’t read through all the comments, so forgive me if someone already mentioned this, but Baseball Reference lists his position as DH, starting pitcher & first baseman. Yet the article doesn’t mention anything about that. I wonder if that was a college thing or has he played professionally as a position player and if so, how has he done? He has flown through the minors so not much time but still…
A reminder the Yankees have provided us a starting catcher Narvaez, 8th inning shutdown reliever Whitlock, solid middle reliever Weissert and 5th starter/depth guy Fitts. Thanks Yanks!
I saw Tolle pitch in Portland a month or two back, and it was a total man vs boys vibe..
We were up there visiting friends for the 4th of July and took in his start. Against the Yard Goats I think. He only went 4 innings but gave up just 2 hits and struck out 8. He has been good against minor league competition. I hope he can keep us in the game for 4 or 5 innings today.
Tolle will be the 54th player on the Red Sox roster this year. We used 57 in 2024. Always makes me laugh with all the fuss about projecting opening day roster and we end up using 50+ players every year.
A couple of weeks ago, I said the Sox needed to be 11-5 through the sixteen games from Miami to this weekend in order for me to believe they’re for real. So far they’re 9-4. I’m impressed.
Tolle pitching tonight might be because nobody expects to beat Skenes, so even though it’s his ML debut, there is less external pressure on him? Plus the Pirates offense isn’t that good. I think this’ll be a fun one no matter what.
The Red Sox had to have a .700 win percentage for you to believe they are real?
Tolle is facing the Pirates tonight because that is the place in the rotation he is filling. Either he pitched on regular restvor someone else pitched on short rest. That is why Harrson was not called up. Not so hard to understand. Conspiracy theories seem to be more popular than actual reality. SMFH.
That’s life in America. No amount of logic will displace a good conspiracy theory.
I always believe the conspiracy theories that begin: “My cousin’s college roommate’s brother-in-law told him he heard that ……..
You can shake your head all you want. The bottom line is that the Red Sox haven’t been getting it done when push comes to shove for years. They’ve been sort of on the fringe or precariously holding onto a playoff spot at the end of July, and then they falter big time in August.
In order to maintain your playoff spot, you have to play as well as, if not better than, the people below you. They’ve consistently failed to do that with the exception of the past couple months. You have to win series against your division rivals. Here’s how I came up with the 11-5:
Marlins 3 wins (2)
Orioles 1 win (0)
Yankees 2 wins (3)
Orioles 2 wins (4)
Pirates 3 wins (?)
There is very little margin for error, but the Red Sox are getting it done. They’ve picked up 2 games on the Blue Jays in the last 10, but the Yankees have kept up with the Sox.
About time this happened
Should’ve been a few months ago and release Buehler
5.1 IP 3 H 2 R 8 K
Great beginnings
Actually did better than Skenes!
Tolle was actually a pretty solid favorite in the game (-117). I know it’s the Pirates on the road, but it was against Skenes. I was shocked.