Early in 2024, the Red Sox went with a breaking ball-heavy approach, giving the team a reputation for being anti-fastball. Now, when the Red Sox acquire a new pitcher, seemingly every analyst's first move is to look at the new pitcher's four-seam fastball. If the pitch has a high batting average against or low swinging strike numbers, the immediate reaction is to say, "Well, they'll cut that usage for something else". I'm guilty of it, but it isn't necessarily the case.
Could (insert pitching prospect here) be the first front-of-the-rotation arm that the Red Sox have drafted and developed since Jon Lester? A question that I, and countless others, have uttered thousands of times in recent years now applies to Payton Tolle. For the first time, that question feels like it could be a "Yes," last night's results notwithstanding. But how many times have we been reeled in by that possibility over the last 20 years?
"I'm having a blast right now with these guys," Giolito said. "Every single game matters, so it just kind of adds that extra edge each time you take the ball, especially with the way our rotation's been going. Watching (Garrett) Crochet and (Brayan) Bello and Dustin May, who we recently acquired, watching them work, it adds extra motivation to keep up and keep putting up good performances."
