Gage Ziehl Brings A High Floor To Red Sox's High Ceiling Farm System

[Cory Sparks]

The Boston Red Sox have a loaded pitching prospect pipeline, and their rotation could go in a variety of directions depending on who pans out. While flashy prospects like Anthony Eyanson and Payton Tolle possess remarkable measurables, Gage Ziehl is a high-floor arm that every team needs for some peace of mind. Let's break down what the 2026 newcomer is doing so well this year.

Gage Ziehl's Updated Red Sox Scouting Report

Ziehl was a fourth-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, as the New York Yankees selected him with the 119th overall pick. The now-23-year-old earned plenty of respect for being a frontline starter with the Miami Hurricanes during his sophomore and junior seasons, bumping his draft stock into day-one territory. Standing at six feet tall and weighing 223 pounds, Ziehl is now working in his second full season of professional baseball. 

The crafty righty is already on his third organization, as he’s been involved in a pair of trades since being drafted. The White Sox acquired Ziehl in a trade involving big-league outfielder Austin Slater in 2025. After six starts with the High-A Winston-Salem Dash, the Red Sox acquired the righty hurler ahead of the 2026 season in a trade involving Jordan Hicks, David Sandlin and some cash considerations, among other assets.

Through a year and a half, Ziehl has accumulated an 11-9 record with a 4.40 earned run average over 174.0 innings of work. He has 166 punchouts over that span while allowing opposing hitters to have a .277 batting average against him. 

Consistency Takes The Cake

Ziehl’s strongest attribute isn’t a single pitch, but rather his overall control. He may be an unranked prospect per TalkSox.com, but his command is as strong as anybody's in Minor League Baseball. The Portland Sea Dogs’ (Red Sox, Double-A) starting pitcher has walked just 34 hitters while punching out 166 over the course of 174 innings of work, good enough for nearly a five-to-one strikeout to walk ratio. 

Ziehl has toyed with his arsenal over the years, but his insistence on pounding the zone has been the main constant throughout his professional career. The fastball sits between 91-94 miles per hour with the ability to touch 96, but that's just what sets up the rest of his arsenal.

While his motion is simple and repeatable, one of the main pitfalls has been generating higher whiff rates, as he had below-average swing-and-miss rates on every one of his pitches last year. The command is there; now it’s just about creating deception and more movement to bait hitters into poor decisions.

The Sneaky Slider

Ziehl’s saving grace may be his slider, as it’s his best offering (50-grade) out of what is currently a five-pitch arsenal that includes a fastball, cutter, curveball and changeup. Also classifying as a sweeper, he made this his primary pitch (even ahead of the fastball) in 2025 thanks to a high amount of spin-rate and pristine control. 

He will likely need to bump the production on another pitch so that he can play a pair of above-average options off of one another. 

Overall Projection

In terms of this farmhand’s ceiling, the word “steady” probably gave it away, but he’s projected to be a back-of-the-rotation starter. This is someone who can give a team innings, compete, and won’t run up a pitch count due to free passes. His next step is to add pitches, or more spin to his current options, that can fool hitters and retire them on whiffs. If he simply pushes his stuff to even a league-average level, he could be the kind of flexible arm every contending team needs to stay afloat throughout a 162-game season.

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