Red Sox remain focused on pitching in MLB Draft, select 12 more pitchers on Day 2
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Of the eight pitchers the Sox drafted inside the top 300, seven hailed from SEC programs, and all were at least 6 feet, 2 inches.
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'Big frame, big [velocity], and stuff. That's kind of how we prioritize pitchers as we work throughout the draft,' Pearson said. 'And certainly, we got a lot of those guys. I know there's a lot of SEC players this year. That was, I guess, where all the big guys with stuff and [velocity] are.'
The Sox' approach was epitomized by their fifth-round selection, Christian Foutch, a 6-3, 245-pound fireballer from Arkansas who averaged 98 miles per hour on his fastball and touched 101.
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Foutch had a monster sophomore campaign in 2024, posting a 0.81 ERA, 20 strikeouts and one save in 20 appearances, and opened his junior season as the Razorbacks closer before losing the job because of a 4.09 ERA in 21 appearances, struggling with his secondary pitches.
'We saw some optimization opportunities there,' Pearson said. 'Definitely the velo, definitely the size and just the chance to get to really good secondaries and pairs that all together could give him a shot to be pretty interesting.'
Similarly, in the ninth round, the Sox selected another of the SEC's hardest-throwing relievers in LSU flamethrower Jacob Mayers.
The 6-5, 220-pound righthander has a sinker that sits at 96-97 miles per hour and has touched 102, with nearly 23 inches of induced vertical break — one of the best marks in the country. But in his junior season at LSU, Mayers posted a 4.80 ERA over 15 innings with a concerning 27.8 percent walk rate.
'Just a fun arm with some upside,' Pearson said. 'And we were excited to get him.'
The Sox opened Monday with the fourth-round selection of Mason White, a power-hitting infielder from Arizona. White hit .327 with 20 home runs and 73 RBIs in 65 games as a junior, and cut down on his strikeout rate from 35.6 percent as a sophomore to 25.3 percent as a junior — albeit still a high number
'He cut down his lift rate a lot, and has just continued to get better. Gets the ball near the pull side with some power,' Pearson said. 'He fits what we do here, well, and especially at a premium position, with a guy we didn't want to miss on.'
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In the 13th round, the Sox selected Jack Winnay, a Newton product who played at Belmont Hill. Winnay played the infield and the outfield over his three seasons at Wake Forest, mashing 20 home runs as a sophomore and 15 as a junior.
The Sox also spent only one draft pick on a high school prospect, coming with the selection of Fabian Bonilla out of Christian Military Academy (Puerto Rico) in the 19th round.
'It's a result of how the board went,' Pearson said of the lack of high school selections. 'We've had a lot of success with high school hitters recently. And if there were ones we could access that we really like, we certainly would have taken them.'
Matty Wasserman can be reached at
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