The Boston Red Sox made a move today, pushing starter Dustin May to Saturday, leaving the mound open for tomorrow night. However, it might not be another bullpen game.
According to Christopher Smith, he believes this means it’s likely the Sox’ No. 1 pitching prospect, Payton Tolle, will finally get the call and the start.
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“Dustin May pushed back to Saturday. So that probably makes it more likely Payton Tolle makes his big league debut Friday but nothing official yet. It would be Tolle vs. Skenes,” Smith wrote.
Tolle has been crushing it in the minors, starting this season in high A and is now in AAA. Across all three levels, Tolle has a 3.04 ERA with 133 strikeouts, a WHIP of 0.99, and 23 walks in 91.2 innings pitched.
However, if Tolle does get called up, he probably won’t face Skenes, as ESPN has Skenes pushed to Saturday with May. He would face Mike Burrows instead, who has a 4.23 ERA. This should be relieving for Tolle, as he wouldn’t have to try to duel nearly as hard to make sure he wouldn’t give up any runs.
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Either way, Tolle getting called up tomorrow could be the right move. He’ll face a team at the bottom of their division, and he gets to do it in front of the home crowd. He’ll have over 37,000 people rooting for him, and he won’t have to face a contender.
Hopefully he does get called up, as the Sox need a fifth man in their rotation, and it would be good for Tolle to get some reps in at the major league level before October baseball.
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