Red Sox pitching prospect David Sandlin was between 95-99 mph during his 7 shutout innings in Double-A Portland’s 3-0 win over Altoona on Thursday.
The 24-year-old righty allowed three hits and one walk while striking out eight. He threw 84 pitches (57 strikes).
It was registered as a complete game shutout because the game went only 7 innings. Portland and Altoona played a doubleheader. Doubleheader games in the minors are just 7 innings.
Portland won 9-6 in the second game.
Sandlin (3-1, 3.77 ERA in nine games, eight starts) has been absolutely dominant his past two outings, tossing 12 scoreless innings and allowing eight hits and one walk while striking out 14.
His 7 innings Thursday tied for the longest outing of his minor league career. It also marks the third time in his pro career he has recorded an out beyond the fifth inning.
Baseball America ranked Sandlin the Red Sox’ No. 7 prospect entering 2025. It had him ranked the No. 2 pitching prospect in the system behind Luis Perales.
MassLive ranked Sandlin No. 7 on its Top 25 Red Sox prospect list entering 2025.
Sandlin has reached triple digits with his fastball. He was up to 100.4 mph last year and threw a 101 mph fastball during a workout this past offseason.
He has 45 strikeouts and 12 walks in 43 innings.
Garcia homers again
Jhostynxon Garcia — also known as The Password — went 2-for-4 with a homer in Triple-A Worcester’s 3-2 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday.
His blast went 408 feet and left his bat with a 104.4 mph exit velocity. He connected on an 80.3 mph sweeper.
The 22-year-old outfielder is 13-for-32 (.406) with a .424 on-base percentage, .719 slugging percentage, 1.143 OPS, three homers, one double, six RBIs, six runs, one walk and eight strikeouts since Boston promoted him to Worcester from Double-A Portland on May 20.
On Thursday, The Athletic’s Keith Law released an updated version of his top-50 MLB prospect rankings. Garcia rose from “unranked” to No. 46.
Law wrote, “The Password, as he is known, has taken a pretty significant step forward this year off a breakout year in 2024. He’s swinging less often, which has also meant that he’s whiffing less and he’s chasing less, and he’s still hitting the ball hard — although the surface results haven’t been there yet. The Red Sox bumped him up to Triple A last week and in his first six games there he homered twice, at 106 and 109 mph. It’s plus power, a significantly improved approach, and, well, he should move to right field.”
