Richard Fitts, who the Red Sox acquired from the Yankees in the Alex Verdugo trade, took a perfect game into the eighth inning for Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old right-handed pitching prospect allowed a leadoff single to Charlotte’s Oscar Colás in the eighth, then WooSox manager Chad Tracy removed him immediately.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder struck out seven batters over his 8-plus innings. Lucas Luetge relieved Fitts and allowed the inherited runner (Colás) to score. It ended up being an unearned run for Fitts.
The WooSox won 5-2 over Charlotte. They put it away with a four-run seventh inning, capped by Bobby Dalbec’s three-run homer.
Fitts recorded 15 swings-and-misses: seven with his four-seam fastball, five with his changeup and three with his slider.
He threw 36 sliders, 32 fastballs and 14 changeups. His four-seamer averaged 94.4 mph and topped out at 96.3 mph, per Baseball Savant.
He landed 65 of his 82 pitches (79.3%) for strikes.
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MassLive ranked Fitts the Red Sox’ No. 11 prospect on its Top 25 prospect list entering 2024. Baseball America ranked him Boston’s No. 7 prospect and the organization’s No. 2 pitching prospect behind only Wikelman Gonzalez.
Boston acquired Fitts along with pitchers Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice from the Yankees in exchange for Verdugo on Dec. 5.
Fitts has a 3.72 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 10 outings (nine starts) for the WooSox. Opponents are batting .246 against him.
Weissert, meanwhile, has spent the entire 2024 season on Boston’s active roster so far, posting a 2.01 ERA (22 ⅓ innings, five earned runs). Judice has pitched 2 innings in the Florida Complex League.
