MLB Network had no information on Hunter Dobbins during their draft coverage show when the Red Sox selected the righty in the eighth round in 2021 out of Texas Tech.
“You know how they normally give you a little info about the guy who was just picked, on the draft show?” Dobbins said. “They actually knew nothing about me. And so they said, ‘Oh, we’ll come back to him later.’ And they never did, which I thought it was funny.”
The broadcast didn’t even have a photo of Dobbins. It used “the gray outline of a silhouette,” he said.
“I‘ve always kind of felt like I’ve been a guy who has flown under the radar a little bit almost at every level,” Dobbins said. “I think even out of high school no one really knew who I was. … So I’ve always kind of had that underdog mentality.”
Dobbins has put himself on the radar with big-time velocity and four secondary pitches (splitter, sweeper, slider and curveball). The 24-year-old righty has a 1.79 ERA (45 ⅓ innings, nine earned runs) over his past nine starts dating back to June 30 for Double-A Portland. He has a 3.17 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and .232 batting average against in 21 starts (105 innings) for the Sea Dogs this season.
He has topped out at 99 mph. He also has maintained mid-to-upper 90s velo throughout starts. His fastball was hitting 97 mph in the sixth inning Aug. 14 at Binghamton.
Baseball America had not ranked him before 2024 but it now has him as Boston’s No. 21 prospect.
“I try not to look at it too much but it’s cool,” Dobbins said about prospect rankings. “It kind of shows you some hard work is paying off. But at the end of the day, the only rankings that really matter are the ones the front office has internally. Keep climbing those and just kind of see what happens.”
What has worked so well his past nine starts?
“I’d say finally getting some consistency on my pitch shapes,” Dobbins said. “That way I know how to attack hitters with them. That’s been one of our big focuses on the year.”
The Red Sox always knew Dobbins had good stuff.
“But sometimes it would move a little differently on me and that’s when I would get myself in trouble,” Dobbins said. “So I think definitely just finally finding the consistency with that, game-planning and just trusting my defense behind me.”
The righty has worked especially on the shape of his sweeper and splitter.
He actually switched sweeper grips a few weeks ago in the middle of his dominant nine-game run. He’s now able to throw the pitch with 15-20 inches of sweep.
“It’s a little bit slower but with that amount of sweep I’m really able to kind of get hitters off balance with it,” Dobbins said.
His newer splitter grip allows him to get “a lot more run” on the pitch. With more consistency, it’s become a big swing-and-miss pitch for him, especially against right-handed hitters who are batting .161 against him.
He said the splitter technically falls under the new term of “splinker,” a hybrid between a splitter and sinker. It’s a pitch Pirates rookie ace Paul Skenes throws.
“It’s really firm,” Dobbins said. “Then we’ve shortened up my slider. I’m throwing it harder now.”
The slider has been 88-91 mph.
“More of a bullet slider,” he said. “And then the big curveball as well.”
The Red Sox player development Twitter account posted a video of Dobbins reaching 98.5 mph July 27. He has since topped out at 99 mph.
“I feel like I’m in a really good spot to really push velo right now,” Dobbins said. “Obviously I never know what’s going to happen in a start but I will say I’m confident in that number being hit again, if not climbing a little bit more.”
Dobbins didn’t pitch during his junior season at Texas Tech in 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, one reason he dropped to the eighth round in the draft. Before the injury, he threw in the lower-90s and relied more on spotting his fastball.
His velo has continued to increase each year since the surgery. Dobbins said he has used sort of an “old school approach” to increasing velo.
“I have hammered the weight room,” he said. “I think it says I’m 185 (pounds) on the roster. I’m actually up to 210 now. So just putting on a lot of weight, a lot of long toss. And just making sure my shoulder is good and strong. And I think there’s a mentality shift for me as well. I’ve always tried to be the starter that peaks in the sixth inning. But now I think my body is in a good spot to where I can maintain that velo for a whole start. So just shifting that mindset of attacking from pitch one.”
Dobbins always has been a strike-thrower. He averaged just 2.5 walks in his 20 outings (19 starts) last year. He has averaged 2.9 walks per nine innings during his minor league career.
So it was unusual when he averaged 3.9 walks per nine innings in his first 12 starts this season. He was unhappy with all the walks and his strikeout-to-walk ratio. And so he approached the coaches about it and they formed a plan to help improve command. In his past nine starts, he has averaged just 2.6 walks per nine innings.
They split his bullpen sessions into two halves. The first half he works on pitch design.
“The second half I’m forcing myself to throw two out of three pitches in the strike zone,” he said. “So that’s really helped. I’m a guy who hates free passes. They typically come back to haunt you. So I’ve been focused on knocking those out.”
He has posted steady minor league stats without being a top 10 prospect similar to Kutter Crawford’s path to the majors. Baseball America never ranked Crawford, a 2017 16th round draft pick, higher than the No. 15-ranked prospect in Boston’s system. Crawford now is a fixture in Boston’s rotation and has the eighth best batting average against (.222) in the American League.
“Seeing someone like Kutter go off in the big leagues, it’s a lot of fun to watch. He deserves it,” Dobbins said. “It definitely shows that you don’t have to be a top prospect to make it.”
MLB Pipeline has Dobbins ranked Boston’s No. 21 prospect. SoxProspects.com has him ranked No. 20.
“I’m ready whenever they want to give me the call,” Dobbins said. “I feel like I’ve got my game at the best point it’s ever been at. Whether that’s a call to Worcester, a call to Boston later this year, mentality-(wise) I know I’m ready for it.
“The front office knows what they’re doing,” Dobbins added. “We’ve got some really good people in charge of us. So whenever they see me ready, I’ll be there.”
Dobbins tries to bring the same killer mentality as Chris Sale does. Sale worked with several prospects, including Dobbins, while he was in Fort Myers rehabbing from his own Tommy John surgery.
“He was a huge part of when I first was with the Sox and we were down there rehabbing together,” he said. “I learned a lot from him. Kind of how to have that killer instinct, killer mentality on the mound.”
