Talk Sox Red Sox Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month - May 2025

[Billy Mock]

The Boston Red Sox continue to be among the best in the business when it comes to developing young pitchers at the Minor League level. After a strong five-start stretch in the month of May, Payton Tolle has added his name to the list of intriguing pitchers in Boston's deep farm system to keep an eye on moving forward.

2025 is Tolle's first taste of professional baseball. He was the Red Sox second round draft pick (50th overall) a year ago out of TCU. Two months into his first season with the Red Sox, he has already become one of the system's premier pitching prospects, ranking 16th overall on MLB Pipeline's top 30 Red Sox prospects rankings, and 13th overall here on Talk Sox. As a big lefty with MLB-potential stuff, Tolle came into the organization with a lot of upside that he appears to be tapping in to early on. 

It was a rough start to the season for Tolle. He opened the season in High-A for the Greenville Drive, passing up Low-A Salem. He made three starts in the month of April, logging nine and 2/3 innings while allowing seven earned runs. However, the strikeout stuff was still there, giving us a glimpse of what he might become as he struck out 17 batters.

Now in May, Tolle started to piece things together. He made five starts for Greenville and was nothing short of stellar. Across 23 innings, he gave up seven earned runs which was good for a team-best 2.74 ERA. He also struck out 37 batters, a mark that led the South Atlantic lead as well as all Red Sox Minor League pitchers. 12 of his strikeouts came during his first start in May in which he threw five scoreless innings against the Asheville Tourists while allowing just three hits and zero walks. Aside from a hiccup on May 17th in which he gave up four earned runs in four innings of work, he followed up that gem by allowing only three earned runs across three starts. 

Tolle's ability to strikeout batters in bunches is certainly impressive, but his improved command of the strike zone has been a pleasant surprise as well considering he walked 11 percent of the batters he faced at TCU in 2024. He only walked four batters in the month of May which was good for a 4.2 walk rate compared to his 38.5 strikeout rate. 

Tolle features a strong arsenal that has helped him find this level of success in the month of May, and it's highlighted by his above-average fastball. It sits in the mid-90s and tops out around 98 mph, but because of the extension he creates down the mound due to his size, it plays more like a 100 mph fastball. While the Red Sox haven't let him pitch past the fifth inning in any start this year, he has shown the ability to hold on to velocity later in his starts, flashing 97 mph on the gun in his final inning of work a few times. The offering also induces roughly 19 inches of vertical break, making it an un-hittable pitch for both right handed and left handed hitters when located at the top of the zone. He pairs it well with an upper-80s to low-90s changeup with a lot of arm-side run along with two different sliders - a tighter upper-80s slider and a low-80s sweeping slider. 

Despite a slow start to the season, Tolle has put up some of the best numbers on the mound for Red Sox Minor League pitchers thanks to his performance in the month of May. He's down to a 3.86 ERA and a 3.33 FIP, while his 38.6 strikeout rate ranks sixth and his 32.1 K-BB% ranks second among Red Sox Minor League pitchers with at least 20 innings. As he continues to post excellent numbers, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise if he earns a promotion to Double-A Portland shortly and climbs Red Sox prospect rankings. 

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