Red Sox Reportedly Promote Rising Pitching Prospect On Hot Streak

There has been plenty of traffic from Portland to Worcester lately. The Boston Red Sox are the cause of it.

The Red Sox promoted their fifth prospect from Double-A Portland to Triple-A Worcester in just over a week when they called up starting pitcher Hunter Dobbins on Wednesday, according to Ed Hand and Beyond The Monster's Josh Ball. Dobbins seemed to confirm the reports by reposting congratulatory messages on his Instagram story.

Dobbins joins former Portland teammates and top-tier prospects Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel and Kristian Campbell who recently have been called up to Worcester.

Dobbins isn't as widely known as those star-studded prospects, but the right-hander has been on the rise and grabbed attention as of late with sterling performances. Dobbins, who turns 25 in a little over a week, went 3-1 with a pristine 1.79 ERA and 1.06 WHIP over nine starts since the middle of July. He also struck out 44 batters in 45 1/3 innings.

Dobbins made a convincing case to be called up after his final start with Portland when he tossed six scoreless innings and allowed three hits while striking out seven.

The Red Sox selected Dobbins in the eighth round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Texas Tech -- he didn't pitch the year he got drafted as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. He struggled mightily in his first full season of pro ball in 2022, pitching to an 0-5 record with a bloated 5.22 ERA in 17 starts with Low-A Salem.

But Dobbins found his groove last season by posting a 2.63 ERA over seven starts with High-A Greenville before getting called up to Portland. He went 5-5 with the Sea Dogs last year with a 4.27 ERA.

"I feel like I spent the first year finding myself again after Tommy John (surgery)," Dobbins told NESN.com in a recent interview. "Finding that chip on my shoulder of, 'You know what? I'm healthy. I can go full at it.' Last year, kind of found my stride. Could really start working on things the organization wanted me to work on. This year, it's a lot more of, 'You know what? I know who I am as a pitcher.'"

Dobbins is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 21 prospect in the Red Sox farm system.