NASHVILLE — Recently the Red Sox minor league pitching pipeline has slowed to a trickle, and coming into the offseason solely two of Boston’s high 15 prospects in accordance with MLB Pipeline had been pitchers.
New chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has vowed to vary that, and late Tuesday night time he introduced in some fairly vital reinforcements.
By delivery Alex Verdugo off to the New York Yankees, Breslow acquired again three right-handed pitchers in return. Greg Weissert, a 28-year-old reliever who made 17 appearances within the majors final season; Richard Fitts, a former sixth-round pick of Auburn in 2021 and the Yankees’ No. 12 prospect; and Nicholas Judice, a 6-foot-8 mountain of a person who was an eighth spherical choose this previous summer time and has but to make his skilled debut.
One specifically may develop into an actual distinction maker.
Fitts, essentially the most notable return within the deal, is the reigning Eastern League (Double-A) Pitcher of the Year and a man who ought to instantly slot in as one among Boston’s high pitching prospects. The 23-year-old right-hander is coming off a season by which he posted a 3.48 ERA with 163 strikeouts and 43 walks over 152.2 innings at Double-A, and Breslow stated they’re assured he could be a starter on the MLB degree.
“A fastball that has some unique shape, some unique characteristics and a swing-and-miss slider, and on top of that an elite strike thrower who had a ton of success over the course of 150-plus innings in Double-A last year,” Breslow stated. “So wouldn’t want to discount the workload he’s been able to take on.”
Following information of the commerce, MLB Pipeline instantly ranked Fitts as Boston’s No. 10 prospect, sliding him proper between Wikelman Gonzalez and Luis Perales, the membership’s high two incumbent minor league pitchers. Though Weissert and Judice aren’t considered fairly that extremely by the scouting group, Breslow stated every affords rather a lot to love.
“Weissert is a guy who has a track record of missing bats and missing bats at the upper levels,” Breslow stated. “He’s had some success at the big leagues and feel like there’s still some development and growth in front of him.”
“Then with Judice, he’s a guy our amateur department had identified heading into the draft last year and in a lot of ways a bit of a ball of clay,” Breslow continued. “He’s 6-foot-8, big arm, big fastball and someone we’re excited to get into the development infrastructure.”
Time will inform if the three finally emerge as massive league contributors, however given the state of Boston’s pitching pipeline the three ought to jumpstart Breslow’s efforts to supply extra homegrown arms.
“The way to build that development pipeline is to get some high upside arms that we can put into our system,” Breslow stated. “We feel they are some who are ready to contribute in the short-term, and obviously Weissert a guy who has had some success in the big league recently.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com