Red Sox 2024 Offseason Top Prospects: #9, Richard Fitts

#9 RHP Richard Fitts ( Worcester Red Sox, Boston Red Sox)

Richard Fitts came over to the Red Sox in the December trade that sent Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees. There was some debate amongst fans about whether he would break camp with the big club after the injury to Lucas Giolito, but the team decided that he should spend the bulk of the season at triple-A Worcester. Fitts went 9-5 with a 4.17 ERA and 4.86 FIP in Worcester. The Red Sox added him to the 40-man roster on September 8 and he made his first big-league start that same day, striking out two over 5 2/3 innings and allowing six hits, one walk, and two unearned runs. He would continue to pitch much the same way through the end of the season, going 18 2/3 innings before allowing an earned run. He finished 0-1 despite running a 1.74 ERA over four starts and 20 2/3 innings. His FIP was a more reasonable 3.31, thanks to the fact that he didn't allow a single home run.

Fitts features a four-pitch mix: a four-seam fastball that averages 94.5 mph and tops out at 97, a sweeper, a tighter slider, and a splitter. None of his pitches will dazzle you; they grade out as fairly average, although Stuff+ gives his slider-sweeper combo an excellent 132. Fitts ran extremely low whiff rates during his time with the Red Sox, but the fastball can play up above the zone.

When used in conjunction with his sweeper, he has shown the capacity to miss bats in two directions to keep hitters off balance and on their toes.

Despite those two examples, Fitts ran an extremely low 15% whiff rate and struck out just 3.9 batters per nine innings in Boston, compared to the 8.6 K/9 he ran against lesser competition in Worcester. Fitts' big-league sample size was very small, and his lack of swing-and-miss needs to be fixed this offseason. He won't be able to avoid the long ball indefinitely, especially as a fly-ball pitcher in Fenway Park. However, if 2024 was any indication of what's to come, Fitts looks like the kind of pitcher who can slot into the back end of a rotation without issue. His ceiling is a number three starter, but you'd feel comfortable seeing him take the mound every five days.

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