Article: Red Sox Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year: 2024

[Steve Trefz]

Today, we continue to hand out our annual Talk Sox hardware. Who were the top starting pitchers for the Red Sox minor league ballclubs? 

Yesterday, we named Mike Sansone as the Red Sox Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year. Today, we will discuss the brightest prospects for starting pitching in the Sox minor leagues. 

The Talk Sox minor league writers and video providers were asked to vote on these awards. RHP Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (Salem/Greenville), RHP Richard Fitts (Worcester/Boston), and RHP Luis Cohen (Salem) all received a few votes, and are worth keeping an eye on heading into 2025. Before getting into the top four vote getters, here are five starting pitching prospects worthy of honorable mention.

Honorable Mention
- LHP Connelly Early, 22, Greenville/Portland: 23 G, 23 GS, 4.95 ERA, 1.186 WHIP, 103.2 IP, 84 H, 39 BB, 138 K
- RHP Blake Wehunt, 23, Salem/Greenville/Portland: 22 G, 22 GS, 4.25 ERA, 1.110 WHIP, 97.1 IP, 74 H, 34 BB, 110 K
- RHP Jedixson Paez, 20, Salem/Greenville: 22 G, 12 GS, 3.17 ERA, 1.117 WHIP, 96.2 IP, 96 H, 12 BB, 113 K
- RHP Isaac Coffey, 24, Portland: 24 G, 21 GS, 3.72 ERA, 1.232 WHIP, 113.2 IP, 89 H, 51 BB, 148 K

Minor League Full-Season Starting Pitcher of the Year
Here are the top four vote-getters for Red Sox Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year:

#4. RHP Yordanny Monegro, 22, FCL Red Sox/Greenville:
18 G, 17 GS, 3.79 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 76 IP, 50 H, 29 BB, 94 K
The Red Sox signed Monegro as an international free agent in 2021 out of the Dominican Republic. His 6’4”, 180 pound, frame has bounced from Rookie ball to Salem and Greenville and back again since then, but one thing has remained constant: he can get opposing hitters out consistently. Monegro’s talent is just beginning to come of age, but he has been steadily improving with each promotion since early 2023.

Monegro stumbled at the end of June, but he rallied to construct an eight game and 37 2/3 inning scoreless streak that was only snapped during the final outing, a game he still won. Portland will be calling to start Monegro’s 2025, and the sky is the limit for the young starter.

#3. RHP Matt Duffy, 23, Salem:
22 G, 21 GS, 2.83 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 98.2 IP, 81 H, 27 BB, 100 K
Duffy showed enough promise at Canisius College, NY, to warrant a 4th round selection in the 2023 amateur draft. The 6’2”, 205 pound Canadian righty dipped his toes in professional baseball with one start with the FCL Red Sox and two starts with Salem in 2023, but those two starts went as badly as possible. Duffy surrendered five runs in just over three innings of work in those starts. Therefore, finding his way onto this list in 2024 was probably considered a long shot by many in the organization, but to his credit Duffy delivered early and often at Salem this summer.

If Duffy can continue to improve upon his strikeout percentage, lengthen his starts, and sharpen his control in 2025, Portland seems to be a reasonable final destination after spending the majority of the season in Greenville.
 

#2. RHP Hunter Dobbins, 25, Portland/Worcester:
25 G, 25 GS, 3.08 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 125 2/3 IP, 110 H, 48 BB, 120 K
Dobbins was drafted by the Red Sox in the 8th round of the 2021 amateur draft out of Texas Tech. He skipped rookie ball and has been climbing the organizational ladder rung by rung ever since. Now that the 6’2”, 185 pound, prospect has reached the pinnacle of the minor leagues he appears ready to take the next steps in development.

Perhaps most striking in Dobbins’ 2024 campaign was the fact that he was able to not only gain some length in his Worcester starts (averaging over five innings per game) while still lowering his ERA. Velocity climbed, control improved, and in general Dobbins began to display the kind of consistency that a fourth or fifth starter could add to the major league roster. 2025 might see Dobbins dwelling in Worcester for the long haul, but his star is rising and will find its way to Fenway soon.

And the Talk Sox Boston Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year is…

#1: LHP Jojo Ingrassia, 22, Salem:
21 G, 12 GS, 1.85 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 58.1 IP, 38 H, 20 BB, 93 K
A banner year for Red Sox minor league starting arms is capped off with one of the youngest prospects on the list. Ingrassia was selected in the 14th round of the 2023 amateur draft out of Cal State Fullerton, after primarily serving in a relief role throughout his last year of college. The 6’1”, 170 pound, left-hander started his professional career at Salem in the bullpen as well, working either as a closer or setup role over the first nine games of the 2024 season. He was successful too, gaining two wins and a save over that stretch with an ERA of 2.00 and 40 strikeouts over 18 innings of work.

On May 15th, suddenly Ingrassia was a starter, and there he would remain. He stretched his length to four innings of work in the middle of that run, and actually lowered his ERA while maintaining a high rate of strike outs. Walks bit him early on in his starts, but he settled down and showed that his ability to piggy-back Paez also meant that he could be a starter in his own right. With a fastball running 90-92 mph, along with a slider and changeup in his arsenal, the Red Sox most likely know that his stuff doesn’t translate to major league closer. His results translate into major-league caliber pitcher, however. Red Sox fans should be excited to continue to follow this youngster’s climb up the prospect ladder, no matter where he fits into the future of the club.

The starting pitching prospects gave some stellar performances across the Red Sox minor leagues in 2024. However, the most surprising starting prospect has to be the one that started his season as a closer. Jojo Ingrassia earned and deserved our choice for our Talk Sox Minor-League Starting Pitcher of the Year with a great debut season.

What do you think Sox fans? Would you rank any of these pitchers differently? Comment below!

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[moonslav59]

Love the article and the  general positive vibe on our farm pitching.

I know many are "far away." and we seem to have more "quantity" than top "quality," but I'm hopeful we have turned the corner on poor pitching development on our farm.

We've already seen an uptick at the ML level with Houck, Bello, Crawford, Whitlock, Slaten, Fitts and others. That's the best 5 or 6 pitchers we've seen in a long time.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Get forward, Jojo...

[moonslav59]

soxprospects.com projects these guys will start the year here:

1. Ingrassia A+

2. Dobbins AAA

3.  Duffy A+

4. Monegro AA

I Coffey AAA

Paez  A+

Wehunt  AA

Early AA

E Rodriguez A+

Cohen A- (Pen)

Fitts MLB

It's interesting to note, that we have several other pitchers on the farm that may be better that these guys or will pass them, next summer. Maybe some will end up in the pen, as will a few from this awarded group of young pitchers.

Priester is not a prospect, but he could be a force, as soon as 2025. Here are the highest ranked pitchers not listed above:

6. Perales 21 IL (AA/AAA) - Probably our best minor league pitcher.

11. Sandlin 23 AA- may end up in the pen. Has serious upside.

13. Tolle 21 A+ mostly unkown

19. Penrod 27 AAA/MLB (Pen) up their in age.

20. Wikelman 22 AAA- make or break year & may be bubble on 40 man

23. Cason 18 A- mostly unknown

24. Valera 18 A- could have made the top list for 2024.

26. Mullins 24 AA- let's see how he does in '25.

27. Guerrero 24 MLB (Pen)- could be a force in the '25 MLB pen.

31. Reyes FCL (Pen)- hope to see him shine in '25

33. Neely A+ mostly unknown

35. Bastardo, 39. B Clarke A- 40. Tygart A-, 41. Dean A+ (Pen), 42, Carlson A+ (Pen), 46. Gambrell AAA, 48. Bonnin AA (Pen), 49. G Jackson AA (Pen), 51. Mata (out of options), 56. Hoppe AA (Pen), 59. Rogers A+ (Pen), 60. Sena AA (Pen)

Not Ranked: S Drohan AAA, Uberstine AA, Ehrlicher A-, Judice A-

 

[mvp 78]

Unless Ingrassia can tap into velo, I don't believe his stuff will play at higher levels. He's another guy that tends to pitch backwards. Like Isaac Coffey, there will be success early, but struggles at AA and higher most likely. 

[moonslav59]

On 10/21/2024 at 9:04 AM, mvp 78 said:

Unless Ingrassia can tap into velo, I don't believe his stuff will play at higher levels. He's another guy that tends to pitch backwards. Like Isaac Coffey, there will be success early, but struggles at AA and higher most likely. 

You bring up a good point, and concern. The pitcher of the year is not necessarily the best prospect, and I know you are aware of this. Soxprospects says Ingrassia's FB is 90-92 with "solid control" and "jumps on hitters." He's already 22, so I'm not sure about how much velo he can or will add. Their scouting report has not been updated.

[mvp 78]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

You bring up a good point, and concern. The pitcher of the year is not necessarily the best prospect, and I know you are aware of this. Soxprospects says Ingrassia's FB is 90-92 with "solid control" and "jumps on hitters." He's already 22, so I'm not sure about how much velo he can or will add. Their scouting report has not been updated.

One of the main focuses of pitching development this year was adding velo. If Ingrassia was unable to add velo, it could be a red flag going forward. SoxProspects aren't always great at updating their scouting reports during the year so there could be a lag, but Ingrassia isn't a guy they were hyping up throughout the year either. 

[moonslav59]

36 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

One of the main focuses of pitching development this year was adding velo. If Ingrassia was unable to add velo, it could be a red flag going forward. SoxProspects aren't always great at updating their scouting reports during the year so there could be a lag, but Ingrassia isn't a guy they were hyping up throughout the year either. 

Yes, they were hyping Valera and others.

It will be interesting to see where they rank all these pitchers in their EOY Rankings. (They said those will come out around Thanksgiving.)

Right now, they have 1 pitcher in the top 10 (Perales at #6.)

They have 6 in the 11-20 slots (Sandlin, Fitts and Tolle 11-12-13 and Dobbins, Penrod & Wikelman 18-19-20)

8 in the 21-30 range, which is nice, but we need some to move up in '25.

6 in the 31-40. 6 in the 41-50. 5 in the 51-60 range. That's 17 of those last 30 and 25 of the bottom 40.

I think Wikelman should drop below 30, but the may have him 24-28. Fitts could be top 10, but I don't see who would drop to 11th.

I'm not sure what criteria they use to "graduate" a prospect, but a few must be close:

12 Fitts, 19 Penrod and 27 Guerrero.

Soxprospects.com has our top 4 prospects all starting off in AAA. None are even Rule 5, yet, so it could get interesting, if we choose to begin 1 or 2 with the big club on opening day. Perales would likely have started in AAA, had he not gotten surgery. #9 Meidroth is also in AAA, and #12 Fitts will be, too, if he's not in MLB. #19 Penrod, the same. Dobbins is Rule 5 and in Woo. So many are finally ML ready or just months away from being so.

[mvp 78]

A player will generally graduate from prospect status once he exhausts his MLB rookie status. Rookie status is exhausted once a player: (1) has more than 130 at-bats in the majors; (2) has pitched more than 50 innings in the majors; or (3) has been on an active major league roster for more than 45 days (not including time on the injured list).
 

For example, Fitts has 20.2 innings, so would either need about 6 more starts to graduate or reach 45 days service time. Probably reaches the service time first. If Penrod is on the Opening Day roster, he would reach 45 days at the end of April. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

A player will generally graduate from prospect status once he exhausts his MLB rookie status. Rookie status is exhausted once a player: (1) has more than 130 at-bats in the majors; (2) has pitched more than 50 innings in the majors; or (3) has been on an active major league roster for more than 45 days (not including time on the injured list).
 

For example, Fitts has 20.2 innings, so would either need about 6 more starts to graduate or reach 45 days service time. Probably reaches the service time first. If Penrod is on the Opening Day roster, he would reach 45 days at the end of April. 

Thanks. I know soxprospects does not always jive with MLB's criteria for graduation.