The Red Sox are calling up left-hander Payton Tolle to start Thursday’s series finale against the Yankees, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. It’ll be the touted young lefty’s first major league action of the season and just the fourth big league start of his career.
Tolle currently sits 11th on Baseball America’s ranking of the sport’s top-100 prospects. He’s 15th over at MLB.com. The 23-year-old reported to camp this spring in hopes of securing a rotation spot after making a brief MLB debut late last season, but fellow top prospect and left-hander Connelly Early wound up claiming the lone rotation vacancy. Tolle opened the season in Triple-A Worcester, where he’s been excellent. In three starts, he’s totaled 15 innings and held opponents to five earned runs (3.00 ERA) on 12 hits and four walks with 19 strikeouts.
The Sox spent much of the offseason bolstering their pitching depth. While younger arms like Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitts were sent out in trades, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow also acquired Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo via the trade market and signed longtime Phillies southpaw Ranger Suarez as a free agent.
Just under a month into the season, that depth has already been tested. Oviedo made just one appearance before being diagnosed with a flexor strain and placed on the 60-day injured list. Gray landed on the 15-day IL with a hamstring strain after exiting his most recent start in the middle of the third inning. Left-hander Patrick Sandoval still hasn’t pitched for Boston after signing a two-year, $18.25MM contract two offseasons ago. The Sox knew he’d miss most of 2025 rehabbing from UCL surgery, but he didn’t make it back at all last year and is now dealing with biceps discomfort that popped up during a minor league rehab stint. Righty Kutter Crawford missed the 2025 season due to a knee injury and wrist surgery. He’s also on a rehab stint but also could be facing a setback after experiencing elbow discomfort during a minor league start.
Counting Tanner Houck — who won’t pitch this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery late last August — the Sox have an entire rotation’s worth of arms on the injured list. At the moment, their healthy starting options include Suarez, Early, Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello and, once this move is official, Tolle. Right-hander Tyler Uberstine and lefty Jake Bennett are on the 40-man roster and pitching well in Worcester; Uberstine made his MLB debut earlier this season when he pitched 2 2/3 innings in a long relief appearance. He’s since been optioned back to Triple-A.
All of the injuries could give Tolle some runway to turn this into more than a spot start. There’s no expectation that Gray’s injury will necessitate a long-term absence, but the Sox have yet to put a firm timetable on his recovery, either. Even if it’s just a minimum stint, that’d be enough for Tolle to make multiple starts.
The Red Sox don’t have an off day until April 30, so they won’t have the luxury of skipping this spot in the rotation if they want to send Tolle down and bring up another arm for the ‘pen. However, they could still option Tolle and then call up Bennett or Uberstine to take the ball when this spot in the rotation comes up again next Tuesday. Alternatively, if Bello continues to struggle as he has through his first four starts (6.75 ERA, 14.1% strikeout rate, 13% walk rate in 18 2/3 innings), it’s hard not to wonder whether the currently 9-15 Red Sox might consider at least a short-term change. And, as always, the possibility of injuries elsewhere on the staff could create a more lasting opportunity for Tolle.
Tolle, the No. 50 overall draft pick in 2024, impressed in his first big league start last summer, tossing 5 1/3 innings and holding the Pirates to a pair of runs on three hits and two walks with eight punchouts. His next two starts were shaky, however, and the Sox moved him to the ‘pen for the final few weeks of the season. He wound up posting a 6.06 ERA in a small sample of 16 1/3 innings, but Tolle’s upper-90s four-seamer and 90 mph cutter were on full display. He fanned more than one quarter of his opponents and notched a huge 14.8% swinging-strike rate. This year in Triple-A, he’s added a two-seamer and upped the usage rates on both his curveball and changeup, giving him a more well-rounded arsenal.
Fire Pete Fatse.
Is this the start to your online petition?
Yes please. Cora and Kyle Hudson too. K thanks.
& SFLarry dear god
Who ya calling fatso
Nacho Libre To the rescue!!! And boy do ‘WE’ need it!! Can he hit also????
Schlittler vs Tolle is a fun matchup of youngsters.
Going to illustrate how much the Red Sox prospects are overrated!
More like Schlittler vs. the Red Sox anemic offense & Tolle vs. the Yankees’ 1st place offense.
The Houck information isn’t correct at this time (unless MLBTR has new information to share). He’s still aiming for a September return and has been throwing for over 2 months already.
He had the TJ surgery August 18th of 2025 – it’s semantics, but generally most wouldn’t consider that ‘late’ last August.
On a seperate note: Uberstine was placed on the MiLB IL on the 16th with shoulder soreness. He could be eligible to come off and pitch as soon as tomorrow, but that seems like a longshot.
Gee, do you really think anyone’s surprised? Maybe we should ask Breslow?
He is going to have give up no runs cause they can’t score any.
He looks 43, but he has great stuff.
weird
If we’re talking looks, he could easily be the younger brother of Nick Offerman.
Amazed they didn’t bring back Giolito, based on the state of their rotation.
A lot of teams kicked the tires on that one and my guess is teams shied away from him when he had that forearm issue late last year. Velocity drop and sharpness during his tryouts are all possibilities.
The Sox expected rotation depth is surely being tested.. Management expected to much from to many young players like Durbin, Anthony, Early,e t.,and maybe now Tolle. The pitching guys they traded for Gray, Oviedo,and Suarez are hurt or not productive. If Crochet cannot return to his Cy Young form this will be a long season. A season that I will admit to having post season thoughts. I didn’t see the offense being this bad ,, especially at home..
Good ramble you typing this while working on a chain…gang?
Peyton’s a big guy
I’m guessing Bello is pushed to either Friday or Saturday in Baltimore. I can see the Sox possibly signing the recently released Taijuan Walker to a minor league deal just to add more depth. Hopefully Tolle can salvage one game in the series and make the homestand less disastrous