Pair Of Red Sox Players Tabbed As Rookie Of The Year Candidates

Dustin Pedroia was the last Boston Red Sox player to win AL Rookie of the Year honors, capturing the hardware in 2007.

If not for a late-season oblique injury, Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony, perhaps, could have won the award in 2025.

Still, Anthony finished third in the voting.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo wrote on Tuesday that Boston could have two AL Rookie of the Year candidates in 2026 with left-handed pitchers Connelly Early and Payton Tolle.

“Six of the 10 on this list should impact the big leagues this coming season, but the Red Sox teammates have already done that,” Mayo said, referring to MLB.com’s top 10 left-handed pitching prospects list for 2026. “Both got votes in the executives survey for AL Rookie of the Year and both even got to test their mettle in the postseason. It was Early who drew a starting nod and had more initial success while Tolle went to the playoff ‘pen, but look for these two southpaws to push each other all year.”

Tolle was the second-ranked southpaw hurler on MLB.com’s list, behind only Thomas White of the Miami Marlins. Early was eighth on the rankings.

The 23-year-old Early went 1-2 with a 2.33 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 29 strikeouts across 19 1/3 innings pitched (four starts) in the 2025 regular season. He started and lost the Red Sox’s final contest of the campaign in Game 3 of the AL wild-card series vs. the New York Yankees.

Tolle was 0-1 with a 6.06 ERA, 1.59 WHIP and 19 strikeouts over 16 1/3 innings pitched covering seven games (three starts) in 2025.

The future is bright for Boston’s pitching staff and Early and Tolle have a chance to crack the starting rotation this spring.

They’ll face stiff competition though, battling for a spot behind the likes of Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, newcomers Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo and right-hander Kutter Crawford, who’s returning from a wrist injury.