Sadbiel Delzine Is the Red Sox's Next Top Pitching Prospect You Need to Know

[Nick John]

Standing 6-foot-5 and towering over the competition, Sadbiel Delzine appears poised to be the next breakout pitching prospect for the Boston Red Sox. Signed out of Venezuela in January of 2025 for $500K—the largest bonus given to an international arm by the organization since 2019—expectations have been high ever since.

While he didn’t pitch much in 2025 (just 9⅓ innings across three starts in the Dominican Summer League), he showed enough promise that the organization brought him stateside for the 2026 season. To say it went well would be an understatement; making 11 appearances in the Florida Complex League, Delzine tossed 39⅔ innings while allowing just 12 earned runs on 24 hits and 18 walks. He showcased his potential to get out of trouble thanks in part to his 43 strikeouts.

By the end of the season, Delzine was promoted to Low-A Salem and appeared to get stronger as his season went on. At that level, he struck out 36 batters in 25 innings. In each start, Delzine battled on the mound, going at least three innings. While not officially stated, it appeared that he was on a pitch limit, as he threw around 60 pitches in all but one outing.

Notably, he struck out at least five batters in all but one of his starts, and in his final appearance of the season, Delzine flashed signs of ace potential. Going four innings, he allowed just one unearned run on four hits while walking no one and striking out six.

Entering his final inning of work during that outing, Delzine labored as fatigue began to set in. After allowing leadoff single that quickly became a runner in scoring position due to a throwing error, Delzine gave up a one-out single to make it a 2-1 game. At that point, you could see that the right-hander was tiring. Despite that, he pushed through as he managed to strand the tying run on second base after ending the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.

Delzine’s dominance in Salem cannot be talked about enough. Entering his final start of the season, left-handed batters were just 5-for-26 against him while right-handed batters were 12-for-54. If a runner made it into scoring position against him, Delzine also kicked it up a notch, as opponents were just 3-for-29 in those situations.

As a pitcher, Delzine relies heavily on a four-pitch mix that is led by his fastball. He also has good feel for his changeup and curveball, as they’re ahead of his slider when it comes to development and usage. His fastball especially has made a jump in 2026, going from the low-90s in 2025 to now sitting in the mid-90s and topping out at 98 mph. Part of that increase could be from the 20 pounds he added to his frame since signing with the Red Sox.

His changeup has shown bat-missing ability early on in his career and in 2026 it sat around 86 mph. Meanwhile, his curveball has an 11-to-5 break that, at its best, has been able to be buried down and away from right-handed hitters. During 2026, his curveball sat between 79 and 82 mph.

Delzine's dominance is thanks in part to his ability to throw strikes, whether by landing his pitches in the zone (51.5% of the time with Salem) or getting opponents to chase (29%). Both results helped him strike out 34.6% of batters while walking just 5.8% of them. While both of those numbers may be unsustainable when he moves up the minor-league ladder, they're a really positive sign for an 18-year-old.

The scary part is he still has room to grow. Despite being 6-foot-5 with a strong frame, the right-hander is likely to get even stronger as he matures. Thus, the Red Sox could very well have another top pitching prospect in the lower ranks of the organization on their hands. Boston will work slowly with Delzine, making sure he properly develops, but if he takes the foundation he built in 2026 and runs with it, he’ll clim top prospect lists rapidly.

View full article