And here they are.
Early, by virtue of his success and the team’s injuries, has risen to No. 3 on the starting pitcher depth chart, the likely choice to get the ball in the Sox’ next game, whether that is Game 3 of the Wild Card Series against the Yankees on Thursday or Game 1 of the Division Series against the Blue Jays on Saturday. Tolle, who has thrown harder in each appearance during his on-the-fly transition to reliever, is available out of the bullpen.
All this is as wild and fun to them as it sounds.
“It’s almost one of those things you joke about,” Tolle said before the Red Sox’ 4-3 loss to the Yankees in Game 2 Wednesday night. “You kind of say it half-heartedly. ‘Oh, what if? What if it happens in October? What if we get there?’ Now it’s like, we’re here. And it’s real. Me and him, we were both happy and obviously wanted more than being just in Portland. Now we’re there. It’s just exciting.”
Tolle and Early combined for 11 games during the regular season.
“I talked with my dad about it. Like, ‘Dad, don’t let me get used to this. This is awesome,’ ” Tolle said. “Get comfortable with it maybe. But I’ll still walk into hotel rooms and be like, this is the nicest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in. Just happy to be a part [of it]. I couldn’t stop saying that.”
Early and Tolle, both lefthanders, are success stories in the Red Sox’ revamped pitching development.
Early was a fifth-round draft pick in 2023 and improved faster than anybody in the organization expected, to the point where he became a top rotation option in September.
Tolle had a higher perceived ceiling, as a second-rounder in 2024, and reached the majors in his first full professional season, faster than anticipated. His fastball jumped from 92-93 miles per hour in college to — in recent outings — touching 100.
As much as these two are part of the present for the Red Sox, the club’s hope and intention is that they represent just the start.
“[Coming into] the year, I knew that we were in a good place organizational-wise, player development-wise,” manager Alex Cora said, referencing the hitter pipeline that featured Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kristian Campbell. “The pitching part of it is the one that I’m like, wow, this could be fun for a lot of years. There’s some good arms.”
On the mend
Trevor Story also caught the bug that ailed Alex Bregman in recent days, but said he was feeling much better. Cora said families were impacted, too, not so much those in the clubhouse.
“The last two days were no good,” Story said. “Got what Bregy had. No fun. But obviously a lot more energy today. So that’s nice, nice to say that and be able to go through kind of a full pregame and more of a regular routine.”
From Walpole to the Bronx
The Yankees’ if-necessary Game 3 starter, Walpole native Cam Schlittler, said he has converted his family to Yankees fans. But growing up in the area helped shape him as a ballplayer. “Being from New England, it is different from being down South,” said Schlittler, who played at Walpole High and Northeastern. “You don’t get the full year of baseball. The way my college coach [Mike Glavine] would describe it is more of a blue-collar, hard-nosed team. That’s how I take myself as a player. Again, the steps I have taken to get here [are] definitely going to define how I go out there and pitch” … Cora rolled out the same lineup as Game 1, including sticking with Carlos Narváez. Narváez caught Brayan Bello for the first time since May 23; Connor Wong had become Bello’s personal catcher. “Connor has done a good job with Bello, but I don’t think having Narvy behind [the plate] is going to change a thing,” Cora said … The Red Sox have with them two players on the taxi squad, who can be activated in case of injury: catcher Ali Sánchez and lefthander Chris Murphy … Bernie Williams threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He is the all-time postseason RBI leader with 80. Manny Ramirez is second with 78, Bregman eighth with 55.
Alex Speier of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Tim Healey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @timbhealey.
