What will Payton Tolle bring to the Red Sox pitching staff?
Payton Tolle was drafted by the Boston Red Sox just over a year ago, but the 22-year-old lefty is already set to make his Major League debut Friday night at Fenway Park. Tolle spent less than a month at Triple-A Worcester, but is now joining a Boston team that hopes to make a deep run this October.
Tolle won't just bring a fierce fastball, a massive leg kick, and an amazing mustache to the Red Sox pitching staff, but also a developing arsenal of secondary pitches that helped his meteoric rise through the Boston farm system.
After starting the season in High-A Greenville, Tolle had quick stints with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs and Triple-A Worcester Red Sox in 2025. He showed off his filthy stuff at each stop, with a 3.04 ERA, 0.993 WHIP, and 133 strikeouts over 91.2 innings between the three teams.
What will Tolle bring to the big league Red Sox? CBS News Boston's Joe Weil got a full breakdown from Ian Cundall, the director of scouting at SoxProspects.com, who believes Tolle can become a valuable arm at the back of the rotation or out of the bullpen for Boston this season.
Payton Tolle's rise to the Majors
Tolle was pitching on the college stage just over a year ago, and is now set to toe the rubber at Fenway Park. It's a credit to the work Tolle has put in over the last year, which included adding some more zip to his fastball.
"It's a remarkable rise for Tolle," said Cundall. "The biggest thing is the velocity increase he's seen this year. Last year at TCU, his fastball averaged around 91 mph. He's now sitting at 94-97 mph and can get up to close to 99 mph; the highest I've seen him 98.6 mph. That velocity increase is not something you traditionally see, but with him it makes a little bit of sense.
"He's a huge guy at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, and as you talked about, his mustache is electric," said Cundall. "He was a two-way player in college, and I think focusing on pitching and getting into the Red Sox pitching development staff has allowed him to thrive and turn into the top left-handed pitching prospect not just in the Red Sox system but in all of baseball."
While Tolle's fastball is good enough to carry him at the Major League level, he's worked on several other pitches this year which also helped him make the big leagues so quickly.
What else is in Payton Tolle's arsenal?
Tolle's fastball is his moneymaker, but he's also developed some formidable breaking pitches this year.
"He's made major strides with his secondary pitches this year and that's been impressive," noted Cundall. "When I saw him in spring training for the first time, he was really a three-pitch guy; fastball, slider, changeup. He's added over the course of the season a cutter and two variations of a curveball.
"The cutter is what has really unlocked his potential and something he's really improved over the last couple of months," he continued. "It's a pitch that allows him to get ahead, he's been around the zone with it, and he can generate weak contact but also throw it for strikes. When he is getting ahead with his secondary pitches, hitters don't have a shot because he can come back with a fastball that is arguably the best fastball in all of minor league baseball."
What can Payton Tolle bring to the Red Sox?
While Tolle adds some youth to the pitching staff, it's fair to wonder how much he has left in 2025 after he tossed just 81.1 innings last year for the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian. He's already surpassed that workload this year, but the Red Sox have limited him to around 60-70 pitches per outing over the last few months to help manage his workload.
"I think they did that in order to save some innings for a situation like this. He's only about [10] innings higher than he was last year in college. If he can keep it 4-5 inning starts, there is a way he can play it out the rest of the season," said Cundell. "Especially with a guy like him; this is not someone whose frame you're worried about workload-wise. As long as he's feeling good and everything looks good on the Red Sox health end, there is a chance they could keep him in some sort of role -- starter or bullpen -- for the majority of the season.
"When you're going for the world series, maybe you push through where the stop light initially said. You have a chance to win, you have to go all-out," Cundell added.
If Tolle's success continues in the Majors, he'll give the Red Sox a power lefty in the rotation or out of the bullpen. For a team that is now expecting to make a deep run in October, Tolle could represent a huge late-season pickup.
Watch Joe Weil's full chat with Ian Cundell in the video player above, which includes Cundell's thoughts on Boston going with Tolle over Kyle Harrison, and the other fast risers we've seen from the Red Sox system.