The Boston Red Sox are calling up top pitching prospect Payton Tolle to start Friday’s game versus the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Boston is making the move as the team returns home from a 7-1 road trip that moved them to within 3.5 games of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. Tolle, 22, was the Red Sox’s second-round pick in last year’s draft out of TCU and has rocketed through the minor-league system. He was ranked as the team’s No. 2 prospect by MLB.com.
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Overall this season, the left-hander has compiled a 3.44 ERA with 133 strikeouts in 91 2/3 innings. He began the year with high Single-A Greenville, striking out 14.9 batters per nine innings in 11 appearances, before moving up to Double-A Portland (12.3 Ks/9 in six games). After three starts with Triple-A Worcester (10.2 Ks/9), Tolle is getting the call up to the majors.
That performance tracks with his numbers from his senior season at TCU, when he struck out 125 batters in 81 1/3 innings through 14 starts.
