Craig Breslow Reveals Whether Payton Tolle Will Stay With Red Sox After Debut

Payton Tolle will make his MLB debut on Friday night, and Boston Red Sox fans should expect to keep watching the rookie pitcher in September.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow discussed Tolle’s arrival before Friday’s game against Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates, per WEEI’s Tom Carroll. Breslow confirmed that he didn’t call up the 22-year-old with plans of making a spot start, but he’s unsure whether Tolle will pitch from the starting rotation or bullpen moving forward.

“We brought up Payton with the expectation that he’s gonna be able to contribute down the stretch for us,” Breslow said. “And exactly what that looks like is to be determined. But he’s — over the last four months, five months — really impressed at every level.”

Breslow ultimately sees Tolle as an essential piece to Boston’s future rotation.

“He’s made significant strides in terms of his development, and we have every reason to believe that he can be a very good major league starting pitcher,” Breslow said.

Drafted in the second round last year, Tolle rapidly rose to the big leagues by posting a 3.04 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 13.1 K/9 rate across three minor league levels this season. The 6-foot-6 southpaw quickly earned the call to Boston weeks after his promotion to Triple-A Worcester, where he allowed one run with 14 strikeouts and one walk over his last two starts.

The Red Sox made the aggressive choice to call up Tolle late in his first professional season after placing Richard Fitts on the injured list earlier this week. They cleared a spot on the 40-man roster by releasing Walker Buehler, who was recently yanked from the rotation.

Fans will get their first, but not last, look at Tolle when the Red Sox play the Pirates on Friday at 7:10 p.m. ET on NESN.