Payton Tolle to make Red Sox debut Friday night vs. Pirates, Paul Skenes
The Red Sox have called up top pitching prospect Payton Tolle, who will make his MLB debut Friday night at Fenway Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The power lefty has been filthy at three different levels of Boston's farm system in 2025, and will now get to toe the rubber in the big leagues. He's being thrown right into the fire, as Tolle will square off with Pirates ace Paul Skenes -- one of the best pitchers in baseball -- Friday night.
But Tolle has succeeded at every level this season, and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora are hoping he'll give the back-end of the Boston rotation a much-needed injection of talent over the final month of the regular season.
Who is Payton Tolle?
Tolle is a big fella at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds. He's got a fastball that reaches the upper 90s and complements it with a cutter and a changeup, though his secondary pitches are works in progress. Tolle has a big leg kick and also uses a low arm slot that has stymied hitters in the minors.
The 22-year-old southpaw is the No. 2 prospect overall in the Boston system and ranked No. 28 in MLB's Pipeline. Tolle was drafted 50th overall by the Red Sox in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Texas Christian University, and he's made an incredible rise through the Boston system this year.
Tolle started the season in High-A Greenville, but he wasn't there long. He made 10 starts (and 11 appearances overall) for the Drive and fanned 79 batters over 49.2 innings. Tolle was promoted to Double-A Portland on June 24, but was only with the Sea Dogs for six games. With Portland, Tolle allowed just five runs over his 27 innings (good for a 1.67 ERA) and struck out 37.
Tolle was promoted to Triple-A Worcester on Aug. 6. In his three starts for the WooSox, Tolle allowed six runs over 15 innings for a 3.60 ERA. He fanned 17 batters to just two walks, and was electric in his final start at the Triple-A level.
Last Friday, Tolle struck out nine over his five innings of work against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp at Polar Park. Across his three minor league stops, Tolle put up a 3.04 ERA and 0.99 WHIP over 91.2 innings with 133 strikeouts.
He's now set to take the spot in the Boston rotation left vacant by Walker Buehler's demotion. Tolle could also develop into a dangerous southpaw out of the bullpen for what the Red Sox hope is a long postseason run this October.