Red Sox Report Cards: Grading Every Boston Pitcher for March/April

[Ryan Salvaggio]

With all of the questions surrounding Boston’s offense, the thing that was going to put fans at ease in 2026 was the projection of a dominant, reworked rotation to complement a bullpen that was the team’s biggest strength in 2025. Through the first month-plus though, the staff appears to be treading water as the injuries and up-and-down performances have come fast and furious, leading the Red Sox to rely on arms no one would’ve thought they’d need to this early on. 

If the Sox are going to get back into the race in a still relatively wide-open American League, especially with how their offense has struggled, it’s going to need to be the pitching staff that carries the load as many expected entering the season. Below are the grades for all 19 of Boston’s pitchers for March and April. You can check out our hitter grades here.

(Note, all players who appeared in at least one game in March/April have been listed in alphabetical order by last name to help easily review):

Grading Every Red Sox Hitter from April 2026

Jack Anderson

3 Games, 0-0, 3.38 ERA, 8.0 IP, 6 SO, 2 BB, .267 AVG, 4.02 FIP, 0.1 WAR 

It’s fair to say not much was probably known about Jack Anderson to Red Sox fans when he was called up on April 14th on an emergency basis after Garrett Crochet had just had his doors blown off in Minnesota the previous night. Prior to his first appearance, all anyone really had to go off of was that Anderson had struggled when he was called up to Worcester in 2025, where he made three starts, lost all of them and gave up 14 ER over 11.1 IP, had pitched three innings in one appearance, allowing one run and striking out three for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic, and had one scoreless inning pitched in Spring Training with the Sox this season.

In three outings with the big league club, Anderson filled his role effectively, working two-plus innings in all three and limiting the damage from opposing teams, allowing just a single run in each. While the numbers may not jump off the page, if there are two areas Anderson can rely on and continue to give the Red Sox some confidence in utilizing him throughout the season it’s the above average Chase% (35.4%) and BB% (6.3) Anderson has operated with thus far.

All in all, Anderson has proven to be a solid depth option so far for the Red Sox if they are ever in a pinch and need some immediate reinforcements from Worcester, pinning Anderson with a passing C+ grade.

Brayan Bello

6 Starts, 1-4, 9.12 ERA, 25.2 IP, 17 SO, 15 BB, .374 AVG, 7.60 FIP, -1.2 WAR 

When the Red Sox acquired Sonny Gray via trade and signed Ranger Suarez this past offseason, the belief among some in the fanbase and media was that sliding Brayan Bello into the No. 3 or No. 4 spot in the rotation would be good for him, taking any potential pressure off of him thinking he had to pitch like a No. 2 as he did in 2025. 

Now just six starts into the season and that couldn’t be further from the truth as everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for him. Of those six outings, he has gone past the fourth inning just once and, among his struggles, has had a really hard time generating strikeouts (12.8 K%, 6th percentile) and missing barrels (13.9 Barrel%, 9th percentile) leading to his bloated ERA and average against. 

Maybe worst of all it seems as though he’s reverted back to completely melting down when things start spiraling out of control in-game, something that had shown a big improvement in 2025, but has seemingly reared its ugly head again this season, resulting in an F- grade.

Aroldis Chapman

9 Games, 0-1, 1.04 ERA, 8.2 IP, 10 SO, 3 BB, .172 AVG, 2.19 FIP, 0.4 WAR

So far Aroldis Chapman has picked up right where he left off following his dominant first season in Boston, slamming the door shut on all five of his save opportunities so far in 2026. Therein lies the problem though, as thanks to the Red Sox being in so few games this season, Chapman hasn’t been given many save opportunities and chances to get into games thus far, which is an unfortunate circumstance for a pitcher of his caliber.

He’s made the most of his chances though when he does get into games and continues to tally up the swings and misses (39.3 Whiff%) and strikeouts (30.3 K%) as he’s effectively done throughout his career. What may be interesting to keep an eye on for the now 38-year-old Chapman is not only does he seem to be getting barreled up (5.5 Barrel% in 2025 to 21.1% in 2026) and hit harder (36.7% in 25’ to 52.6 in 26’) this season, but he’s seemed to have lost velocity on his sinker, which has dipped from 99.4 MPH to 97.9,  4-Seam fastball (98.4 to 97.0), AND slider, (86.7 to 85.6) all in a year’s time. 

Even with the slight drop-offs to start this season, Chapman is still Boston’s best weapon out of their bullpen, earning him a solid A grade to begin the year as the hope is they’ll be able to utilize him in more games going forward.

Danny Coulombe 

11 Games, 0-1, 6.14 ERA, 7.1 IP, 5 SO, 3 BB, .276 AVG, 5.16 FIP, -0.2 WAR 

Hand up, I will admit when the Red Sox first signed Danny Coulombe I thought the move was a slam dunk signing after posting a 2.30 ERA in 55 games with Minnesota and Texas in 2025. Looking back though the writing probably should’ve been on the wall for a player who was brought in towards the tail end of Spring Training as now 11 games and 7.1 abysmal innings in, it has been a dreadful start for Coulombe’s Red Sox tenure. 

While he’s had some success at missing barrels (4.2%) and inducing soft contact (29.2 Hard-Hit%), Coulombe’s low velocity (3rd percentile in Fastball Velocity) hasn’t helped him much in terms of getting many strikeouts (15.2 K%) or swings-and-misses (17.5 Whiff%) which in turn has led to a solid .276 average against and ghastly 6.14 ERA. 

For a player who was signed with such potential to be the Red Sox second shut down lefty behind Chapman, Coulombe hasn’t lived up to the stats on the back of the baseball card by any means, sticking him with an F grade to begin the season.

Garrett Crochet

6 Games, 3-3, 6.30 ERA, 30.0 IP, 37 SO, 11 BB, .270 AVG, 4.32 FIP, -0.6 WAR

On Opening Day in Cincinnati, Garrett Crochet looked like the Cy-Young runner up Red Sox fans had come to know and love a season ago, throwing six shutout innings with eight strikeouts en route to Boston’s 3-0 win. Then the cracks began to form with a four run, five innings pitched loss against Houston. A rare clunker, but one fans brushed off as they watched Crochet bounce back against Milwaukee the following start, hurling 6.1 innings of two run, seven strikeout baseball. 

Then came the “oh no, what is going on!?” outings against Minnesota and Detroit where he allowed a combined 15 earned runs, five walks, and four home runs over 6.2 innings leading some to wonder if Crochet had been pitching hurt. Despite his best efforts to reassure fans he wasn’t hurt, both verbally and by tossing six, three hit, seven strikeout innings in the Sox’s 17-1 thumping of Baltimore, it turns out he was hurt, ending up on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. 

The hope is he’ll only need the two weeks to recover and be back in the Red Sox rotation in no time, but with the uncertainty surrounding this injury, one he previously dealt with in  2023 which caused him to miss two-and-a-half months thanks to a setback, and the inconsistent nature he’s pitched with thus far, Crochet earns an uncharacteristically poor D+ grade.

Connelly Early

6 Starts, 2-1, 2.84 ERA, 31.2 IP, 28 SO, 14 BB, .212 AVG, 4.60 FIP, 0.7 WAR

After bursting onto the scene as one of Boston’s biggest surprises in 2025, Connelly Early has picked up where he left off, putting together perhaps the most consistent stretch out of any starter the rotation has seen. While Early’s numbers won’t blow you away, with numerous percentile rankings either at or below league average, he continues to be most effective at not letting the moment get too big and knowing how to bear down and make a pitch when needed. 

Looking more closely at his consistency that has helped him stand out is the fact he has pitched into the sixth inning or later in four of his six starts, something no other starter can say they’ve done so far. 

Going forward, in order for him to be at his most effective, Early will need to mainly find a better balance between his strikeouts and walks, with a solid 7.96 K/9 rate but underwhelming 3.98 BB/9 rate. Doing this while continuing to keep batters off balance and make the big pitches when he needs to will undoubtedly help him improve what’s an already strong B grade.

Sonny Gray

5 Starts, 2-1, 4.30 ERA, 23.0 IP, 13 SO, 5 BB, .269 AVG, 4.49 FIP, 0.0 WAR 

Much like the rest of the members of Boston’s rotation to start 2026, Sonny Gray has had an up-and-down first month-plus. It began with a lackluster performance in game two of the season in Cincinnati, allowing three earned and making a costly error over four, then back-to-back solid outings against San Diego and Milwaukee that produced two wins for his new club. A horrendous outing in Minnesota where he allowed five on nine hits over four innings, and a start on Patriots’ day that looked to be heading in the right direction before leaving with a hamstring injury that has sidelined him since that start on April 20. 

While Gray’s starts have been hit-or-miss, the advanced metrics haven’t done him any favors so far. After finishing the last two seasons with 200+ strikeouts, it’s been interesting, or maybe more appropriate, concerning, to see that Gray has struggled to get hitters to chase (23rd percentile), whiff (11 percentile) and strikeout (7th percentile). 

With such an inconsistent start to the season, and an injury derailing a further look at if Gray can bring those advanced statistics up, he finds himself with a passable C grade to begin his Red Sox career.

Zack Kelly

10 Games, 0-1, 3.48 ERA, 10.1 IP, 8 SO, 2 BB, .194 AVG, 3.41 FIP, 0.1 WAR 

They say the more things change the more they stay the same and as the 2026 season has gotten underway, Zack Kelly continues to do Zack Kelly things. To a non-Red Sox fan reading that, what it means is that he’ll look excellent one game, and completely melt down in the next. Kelly however has decided to go the route of breaking those inconsistencies up into five-game stretches thus far.

In his first five outings, he sported a 6.75 ERA and 5.03 FIP with four hits, and four earned runs allowed over 5.1 while striking out three and walking one. However, in his final five outings before May, he completely turned things around with an ERA of 0.00, FIP of 1.75, and allowing only three hits and zero earned runs while once again walking one and striking out five.  

Along with the recent stretch of success he’s been on, where Kelly has really shined this season is dropping his BB%, something that has been lowered every year of his career so far to an outstanding 4.3%, securing a spot in the elite 9th percentile and earning a solid B- grade.

Jovani Moran 

9 Games, 0-0, 2.41 ERA, 18.1 IP, 16 SO, 10 BB, .156 AVG, 4.56 FIP, 0.3 WAR 

If Craig Breslow was ever looking for a prime example to say; “You know, I do know what I’m doing here,” he should look no further than Jovani Moran. It seemed like a bit of a head-scratcher when the Red Sox moved on from all of their left-handed reliever options this past offseason, leaving Moran, and at the time his career 4.26 ERA in four seasons, three of which where he finished with it 5.00+, as the only option behind the proven Aroldis Chapman.

However, perhaps choosing to judge Moran solely on his 6.75 ERA in just four innings of work was unfair as a look into his Baseball Savant page showed Moran had actually pitched above league average to even elite rankings. Jump ahead to 2026 and he has seemingly silenced the doubters as not only has he been able to build off those strong numbers, specifically continuing his elite showings in getting swings-and-misses (80th percentile) and limiting hard hit rates (95th percentile) but has lowered his ERA and averages against, turning him into one of Boston’s most trusted weapons out of the pen in pretty much any situation. 

In a season full of dark points and poor performances, Moran has been a much-needed bright spot as he finds himself with an A grade after the first month plus.

Johan Oviedo

1 Game, 0-0, 9.82 ERA, 3.2 IP, 3 SO, 1 BB, .400 AVG, 10.30 FIP, -0.1 WAR

They say first impressions are everything and if that’s the case then Johan Oviedo may have put together one of the worst first impressions Red Sox fans have ever had to sit through. After seemingly making the Opening Day roster as Boston’s No. 5 arm in their rotation, the decision was made to slowly ramp up fellow newcomer Ranger Suarez after he had spent most of his Spring Training with team Venezuela in the WBC, opening a spot for Connelly Early to make the rotation and push Oviedo to a multi-inning reliever role. 

In this role, his lone outing came in relief of Suarez’s Red Sox debut against Houston, a game they lost 8-1 and saw him give up six hits, four earned runs, and two home runs over 3.2 innings with three strikeouts and a walk. Besides the dreadful showing on the stat sheet, perhaps the most alarming aspect of this outing for Oviedo was that his velocity was down drastically across the board, losing 1.2 MPH on his curveball, 2.5 on his fastball, 3.0 on his sinker, and 3.2 on his slider. 

Oviedo’s tough start went from bad to worse when he was placed on the 15-day injured list on April 3rd with a flexor strain, and then subsequently moved to the 60-day on April 14th, meaning there’s a good chance we may not see him again this season. If that’s the case and this is the only game Red Sox fans have to go off of, no more than an F grade can be given to Oviedo.

Eduardo Rivera

1 Game, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3.1 IP, 3 SO, 0 BB, .100 AVG, 1.35 FIP, 0.1 WAR

If much wasn’t known about Jack Anderson at the time of his call-up to the Red Sox, then it might not be so far-fetched to think that little to nothing was known about 22-year-old Eduardo Rivera, who made his major league debut on April 22nd against the New York Yankees. What made Rivera’s debut an intriguing one is that his major league debut actually came before his Triple-A one as he was fast-tracked to the big leagues after posting a 0.90 ERA, .167 average against, and 16 strikeouts in just 10 innings pitched in two starts with Double-A Portland. 

What also helped Rivera’s case was a strong showing for team Puerto Rico in this year’s World Baseball Classic, where he posted a 4.05 ERA and 12.2 K/9 over 6.2 innings pitched. His success continued in his debut as he not only limited the Yankees to one hit and zero runs over 3.1 innings, but showcased an absolutely dominant fastball, helping achieve an elite level Whiff% (42.1%) and Barrel% (0.0%). 

Even though it may have only been a short sample size, being able to make as potent a Yankees lineup look as lost as they did gives Rivera a ton of promise of being another young pitcher the Sox have been able to hit on recently and a well-deserved A+ grade to begin his big-league career.

Tyler Samaniego

7 Games, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 8.1 IP, 8 SO, 4 BB, .143 AVG, 2.66 FIP, 0.3 WAR

When Samaniego was acquired as part of the trade package from the Pirates that also gifted the Red Sox Johan Oviedo, most fans and members who cover the team saw him as a bit of an unknown but solid depth left-handed reliever for a team who worked to pretty much blow that depth up thanks to numerous other offseason trades. 

Fast-forward to March/April and Samaniego has actually become a bona fide weapon out of the bullpen, posting 8.1 shutout innings through his first seven big league appearances. Where he has really shined though is being able to avoid opposing hitters’ barrels and inducing soft contact with a 5.0% Barrel% and 35.0% Hard-Hit%, something not a lot of arms on the Red Sox staff have been able to do all that consistently thus far. 

With the low usage for Aroldis Chapman and rough start for Danny Coulombe, continued success for Samaniego going forward could further cement himself as a dominant left-handed option that the Sox should look to turn to in more high-leverage starts, garnering him an A+ grade.

Justin Slaten

4 Games, 0-1, 0.00 ERA, 3.1 IP, 5 SO, 2 BB, .167 AVG, 1.95 FIP, 0.1 WAR

It says a lot about the pitcher Justin Slaten is when you can feel his impact when he is and isn’t available for the Red Sox. When he is available, like he was during his first four appearances this season, he’s dominant, holding opposing hitters to a .167 average against while missing barrels (0.0 Barrel%) and avoiding hard contact (14.3 Hard-Hit%) and helping to create a nice bridge along with Garrett Whitlock to the ninth inning for Aroldis Chapman.

When he isn’t out there though, like it’s been the case for most of this season and parts of last, the bullpen starts to crack and falls into disarray trying to find reliable arms to preserve leads and help lock down wins. With this in mind, even with the short sample size in 2026, Red Sox fans know how capable and important he is to the success of this bullpen, earning him an A grade and hope for a fast recovery from his oblique strain.

Ranger Suárez 

6 Starts, 2-2, 3.09 ERA, 35.0 IP, 29 SO, 9 BB, .197 AVG, 3.35 FIP, 0.7 WAR

With a poor showing for Venezuela in the WBC, and even worse first two outings in a Red Sox uniform to begin his tenure in Boston, many fans and media members were left wondering if Ranger Suarez was going to live up to the No. 2 status he was given when he signed his five-year, $130 million contract this past offseason.

Since those two starts against Houston and San Diego, where he allowed a combined eight earned runs over 8.1 innings pitched, Suarez has been dominant in three of his last four, going 2-1 while allowing just four earned runs and striking out 24 over 26.2 innings to help lower his ERA and BABIP from 8.64 and .393 to 3.09 and .231. What’s made him such a different pitcher during this stretch as opposed to his first two appearances is he not only has strayed away from trying to be too fine on the edges of the zone, but he’s begun relying on his other offerings rather than leaning so heavily on his sinker-changeup combo as he had been. 

With the injury to Garrett Crochet, Suarez’s emergence couldn’t have come at a better time as Boston will look to him to anchor the rotation, continuing this run of lockdown pitching that nets him a B+ grade through the first month plus.

Payton Tolle

2 Starts, 0-1, 3.38 ERA, 10.2 IP, 15 SO, 5 BB, .162 AVG, 2.93 FIP, 0.3 WAR

When Payton Tolle burst onto the scene in 2025, going toe-to-toe in his big league debut with eventual NL Cy-Young award winner Paul Skenes, Red Sox fans very quickly learned two things about him: he had a big fastball and an even bigger personality. But even with the high velocity and great movement, that big fastball proved to be somewhat of his undoing as opposing teams quickly figured out that it was his crutch – with a 64% usage rate – and swiftly made him pay. 

Heading into 2026, the Red Sox tasked Tolle with becoming more of a complete pitcher like fellow southpaw Connelly Early, and did he do just that in his first outing against the Yankees where he dominated allowing just one run on three hits while striking out 11 over six innings pitched, while also showcasing a newly improved repertoire that featured a reworked cutter and curveball as well as the addition of a nasty sinker. 

Taking a step back in his next outing against Toronto, where he walked four and allowed 3 earned runs over 4.2 innings, it showed that as electrifying and charismatic as Tolle can be, there is still some tinkering that needs to be done under the hood. The stuff is definitely heading in the right direction though, earning him a B grade through his first two outings of 2026.

Tyler Uberstine

1 Game, 0-1, 3.38 ERA, 2.2 IP, 2 SO, 1 BB, .300 AVG, 7.65 FIP, -0.1 WAR

Tyler Uberstine became the first of a few new faces the Red Sox have since called up from Worcester so far this season when he made his MLB debut on April 5th against the San Diego Padres – replacing the injured Johan Oviedo. While not much was known about Uberstine, aside from a 6.14 ERA in 7.1 innings in Spring Training, he did his job in that game, working two scoreless innings allowing the Red Sox to tie things up 6-6 before surprisingly to some, being sent back out in the 8th only to be met by Jackson Merrill and the only run he’d surrender, a solo home run that would prove to be the difference and hand Uberstine an unfortunate loss in his debut. 

He now finds himself on the IL after suffering a shoulder injury with Worcester on April 16, but when he hopefully returns, gives the Red Sox an intriguing option that showed an ability to miss bats (30.8 Whiff%) and make hitters guess (35.3 Chase%) at the big-league level, earning him a solid C+ grade.

Ryan Watson

13 Games, 0-0, 6.62 ERA, 17.2 IP, 11 SO, 7 BB, .301 AVG, 5.61 FIP, -0.3 WAR

When the Red Sox acquired Ryan Watson from the Athletics in a Rule 5 Draft day trade, one would think Red Sox fans couldn’t help but think the Sox had a chance to go three-for-three on Rule 5 acquired arms after the successes of Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten. Fast-forward to now, and that sentiment hasn’t held true as Watson has come nowhere close to capturing the same success. 

Watson has put together an elite start at getting downhill towards hitters with an Extension percentage that sits in the 95th percentile. This ability doesn’t seem to matter to those hitters however, as he’s had an incredibly difficult time getting hitters to chase anything in his repertoire (26th percentile), let alone strike out (14th percentile in K%) or avoid being barreled up which sits in the dreadfully low 7th percentile. 

With other arms working their way back from injuries, and plenty of options shining down in Worcester to start the season, the clock may be ticking on Watson to turn things around or run the risk of the Sox sending him on his way along with the F grade he has earned thus far.

Greg Weissert 

14 Games, 0-1, 5.11 ERA, 12.1 IP, 17 SO, 4 BB, .275 AVG, 5.55 FIP, -0.3 WAR

Coming off a breakout year in 2025, where he put up a career best 2.82 ERA and 3.67 FIP in 72 outings, Greg Weissert had seemingly cemented himself among the likes of Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, and Justin Slaten as a trusted, late-inning weapon in Boston’s projected dominant looking bullpen. His start to 2026 in the WBC for team Italy also helped back this belief up as he managed five strikeouts and zero earned runs over 3.1 innings pitched across three outings, racking up big out after big out.

Back with Boston, that same success hasn’t carried over as Weissert has been anything but dominant or a trusted arm to get out of big spots as Weissert has already allowed 11 inherited runners to score this season, tied for the 7th most in the league. While this grade will come down more so on the eye test than anything else, one that hasn’t been good at all, what should give fans hope of a potential Weissert turn around are that his Chase%, Whiff%, and K% are all up substantially from where they were a year ago, with his Chase and K numbers in the elite 93rd and 90th percentiles. 

The advanced metrics may indicate a turnaround could be coming for Weissert with a little more luck, but with how ineffective he’s been so far, mainly struggling to keep the ball in the ballpark, with four homers allowed already after giving up six in 67.0 innings last year, the aforementioned eye test has him sitting with a D- grade to start.

Garrett Whitlock 

11 Games, 2-1, 3.27 ERA, 11.0 IP, 13 SO, 5 BB, .195 AVG, 4.48 FIP, 0.2 WAR

It’s been a bit of a strange start to the 2026 campaign for Garrett Whitlock as at first glance he seems to be operating as his usual dominant and reliable self, holding opposing hitters to a .195 average against and avoiding any sort of hard contact with a Hard-Hit% in the 93rd percentile. 

What’s interesting with Whitlock is diving deeper into some of his advanced stats, he has appeared to have regressed from an elite level arm to roughly league average across numerous noteworthy categories including: Chase% (97th to 62nd), Whiff% (93rd to 43rd), xERA (93rd to 42nd) and xBA (91st to 50th).  Right now, all the Red Sox can hope for is that Whitlock, who earns a B grade through March/April can continue operating with a little bit of luck as he tries to return to that consistently elite level arm he’s accustomed to being. 

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