After riding high on a 10-game winning streak leading into the All-Star break, the Boston Red Sox have emerged from the four-day hiatus in worrying fashion, dropping their first two games to the Chicago Cubs. Clearly there are any number of areas where the team needs to improve if they want to make a serious playoff bid.
With the two straight losses, the Red Sox still hold the third and final American League Wild Card spot, but now by just a razor-thin half-game margin over the Tampa Bay Rays.
While Red Sox relievers have fared reasonably well over the first 100 games of the 2025 season with an MLB fifth-best ERA of 3.47 and 26 saves, 12th-most overall, including 17 from closer Aroldis Chapman, the Boston bullpen has also been beset by injuries â a concerning sign for its ability to hold up over the season’s next 62 games â which will obviously determine whether the team that won four World Series championships from 2004 to 2018 can even put itself in a position to try for a fifth.
Red Sox Bullpen Depleted by Injuries
Righty Justin Slaten, who started the season as Chapman’s primary set-up man and fill-in closer (with three saves of his own), has been out since June 1 with shoulder inflammation, and is not expected to return until September.
Veteran Liam Hendriks finally debuted on April 20 after missing nearly two full seasons. But the 2021 AL saves leader (38 with the Chicago White Sox) was back on the injured list after 14 mostly rocky appearances and is likely done for the season.
Rookie righty Luis Guerrero headed to the IL on June 28 with an elbow strain and won’t be back until August at the earliest.
What can the Red Sox do to save their ‘pen? Of course they can shop for relievers at the July 31 trade deadline, but there may be a quicker, far less costly solution available to them any time before that date, or after, according to a prediction by a writer for the Red Sox cable network NESN.
In 2024, in the first Red Sox draft helmed by then-new chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow, the Red Sox used the 50th overall pick to take Texas Christian southpaw Payton Tolle. That was the highest pick used by the Red Sox on a pitcher since 2017, when the organization took Tanner Houck at No. 24.
The 6-foot-6, 250-pounder was a two-way player in his first two years in college at Wichita State, but after a transfer to TCU gave up swinging the bat to focus on pitching.
Tolle has risen through the Red Sox ranks rapidly, earning his promotion to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs on June 23, after striking out 79 over 49 2/3 innings across 10 starts for the High-A Greenville Drive in the Boston farm system to start the 2025 season.
Tolle Debuts on Top 100 Prospects Rankings
Then, on Sunday, MLB Pipeline, the prospect and draft evaluation arm of MLB.com, announced that Tolle had cracked its Top 100 prospects list, debuting at No 100. Tolle was already ranked in Baseball America‘s top 50.
Now, NESN writer Kegan Stiefel says that Tolle could make his Boston debut, making the shocking leap straight from Double-A, later this season â as a reliever.
“Chris Sale and Garrett Crochet, the organizationâs two most recent dominant left-handed starters, started their careers the same way with the Chicago White Sox â both debuting as relievers within a few months of being drafted,” the NESN scribe noted.
“Tolle could follow a similar path, though heâd be cutting out the years of toiling away with a directionless franchise and could instead make an impact for a postseason contender,” Stiefel continued. “Boston needs an impact arm in the bullpen, and now has plenty of depth to replace their soon-to-be-top prospect should he get the call.”
At the same time, Baseball America predicted this week that Boston’s 2025 first-round pick, righty Kyson Witherspoon, could make his big league debut for the Red Sox as early as the 2026 season.
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