The Red Sox are in the market to add a top starting pitcher and they already have been linked to Garrett Crochet, Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.
Adding another reliable arm to the current rotation of Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Lucas Giolito is a must. But not much work needs to be done beyond that because chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has accumulated an impressive amount of starting depth over the past year.
The Triple-A Worcester rotation should be stacked with several capable big league starters.
The 40-man roster starting pitching depth grew even more Tuesday when Boston selected 25-year-old right-handed pitching prospect Hunter Dobbins to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.
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Dobbins was named 2024 Red Sox minor league Starting Pitcher of the Year after posting a 3.08 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and .237 batting average against in 25 starts for Double-A Portland and Worcester.
His fastball sits 95-97 mph and has topped out at 99 mph. His pitch mix also includes a splitter, sweeper, slider and curveball. He has a newer splitter grip and the pitch plays like a splinker, a hybrid between a splitter and sinker.
Dobbins joins a starting pitching depth group that includes Cooper Criswell, Richard Fitts, Quinn Priester and Josh Winckowski.
Houck, Bello, Crawford and Criswell are Boston’s only returning pitchers who made at least 10 starts last year. Giolito missed all of 2024 after undergoing an internal brace procedure on the partially torn ligament in his elbow. Nick Pivetta, meanwhile, declined his qualifying offer Tuesday and seems likely to sign elsewhere.
Criswell, who appeared in 26 games and made 18 starts in 2024, is not out of minor league options in 2025 despite using his third option last season. He’s eligible for a rare fourth option, according to a source.
So Criswell, Priester (one option remaining), Fitts (three options remaining), Winckowski (one option remaining) and Dobbins (three options remaining) all can be put in Worcester’s starting rotation and used as depth options for Boston throughout the year.
It’s still undecided whether the Red Sox will use Winckowski as a depth starter or reliever. He’s working to add velo and improve his slider this offseason.
“Still very much believe that he has the raw ingredients to be a good major league starting pitcher,” Breslow said about Winckowski. “What we’ll need to figure out is how he best adds value to our team.”
Garrett Whitlock began both 2023 and ‘24 in the starting rotation but he ended up getting injured both years. He made just four starts last year (1.96 ERA, 18 ⅓ innings) before undergoing a season-ending right elbow ulnar collateral ligament repair and internal brace procedure. He’s expected to be ready for spring training and his role remains undetermined.
“He’s going to be a weapon,” Breslow said. “We’ll figure out how to best deploy him. But some of that will be dictated by what happens this offseason. Some of it is a decision that we’ll make independent of all the rest of it. So we’ll continue to have those conversations.”
Zach Penrod, a lefty who debuted in September, is another starting depth option. The Red Sox will build him up as a starter entering spring training and see where it goes.
Southpaw Chris Murphy also should return at some point in 2025 after he underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2024. Murphy came up through the minors as a starter but began his major league career out of the bullpen.
Of note, Breslow doesn’t want to “yo-yo” pitchers between relieving and starting throughout the season.
“I think what we’re mindful of is trying to avoid the situation where guys go back and forth,” Breslow said. “We talk about that every offseason. We talked about it last year and unfortunately still needed to yo-yo Wink (Winckowski) back and forth. And I think providing some stability and consistency to the roles will be helpful. But we haven’t made a definitive decision yet.”
Breslow said he feels “pretty good about the depth” the Red Sox have built. Criswell, Fitts and Priester all have been added to the organization within the last year with Breslow in charge.
“We saw last year that we’re going to need it, we’re going to use it,” Breslow said. “And it’s going to be really valuable for us. I think the significant difference between where we stand today and this time last year relative to the pitching group is just the development infrastructure is intact.”
Breslow mentioned the importance of director of pitching Justin Willard, pitching coach Andrew Bailey and director of baseball sciences Kyle Boddy leading the charge this offseason.
“We’ll make a few more hires but generally speaking, feel good about having established a pitching philosophy and have the people in place to implement it,” Breslow said. “So a full offseason of that type of direction and programming with our pitchers we think is going to be pretty exciting, pretty beneficial.”
The Red Sox’ pitching program includes a focus on pitchers adding fastball velocity.
“Even guys like Fitts and Priester who we think are starters are focused on developing a little bit more power to their repertoires,” Breslow said.
The Red Sox think Priester can add weight this offseason, helping to add to his power. The former first round draft pick’s velo did increase after Boston acquired him at the 2024 trade deadline. He reworked his mechanics, including his arm angle, at Worcester in August and September.
The sweeper is a pitch that has been introduced to many Red Sox minor leaguers, including Dobbins, over the past year.
As mentioned, Dobbins throws very hard. That said, he finished with only a 22.9% strikeout percentage in 2024. He has a 24% strikeout percentage in 62 minor league outings (61 starts). His continued development includes finding ways to increase whiff percentage but Baseball America wrote, “Though his strikeout rate was modest, he avoided barrels, allowing just two home runs.”
One of Dobbins’ offseason goals is to add 10 pounds so he weighs about 215 pounds next year. He also wants to improve his command.
“I just want to be a little bit better at kind of going in and out,” Dobbins said recently. “Now that I’ve gotten a taste of the Triple-A strike zone, it’s tight. So now I know what to prepare for. I know what to really attack. And I think an offseason to focus on that will put me in a good spot to push for a roster spot next year.”
