Boston's top pitching prospects start the season with Portland
Apr. 7—David Sandlin is eager for the 2025 season to unfold. A starting pitcher for the Portland Sea Dogs, Sandlin sees the talent around him in Portland's starting rotation and can't help but get excited.
"We've got a really deep organization. It's going to be a lot of fun. A lot of new names, too, that people are going to fall in love with," Sandlin said.
Advertisement
After years of failing to develop starting pitchers, the Red Sox are on the upswing. Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, and Brayan Bello have contributed at the major league level over the last few seasons, and Hunter Dobbins, who spent much of 2024 in Portland, made his first big league start and earned the win Sunday night when Boston needed a starter for Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Cardinals.
As the 2025 season begins, Portland's rotation includes some of the top prospects in Boston's system. Sandlin sits at No. 9 in Boston's system, according to MLB Pipeline, one spot ahead of Connelly Early, a left-handed starter with the Sea Dogs. Two other Portland starters are ranked in the top 30, Yordanny Monegro (No. 24) and Blake Wehunt (No. 28). Tyler Uberstine, who started the Sea Dogs' season-opening 14-6 win Friday against the Reading Fightin Phils, is ranked No. 54 by soxprospects.com.
Luis Perales, Boston's No. 5 prospect, underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his right elbow after two starts with the Sea Dogs last season, and could rejoin the team midseason.
"Everybody has their own strengths, and we want to take advantage of those strengths. Really try to make sure we're putting them in a good position," said Sean Isaac, who along with Juan Rivera will serve as a pitching coach in Portland this season.
Advertisement
Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 11th round in 2022, Sandlin was traded to the Red Sox during spring training last year for John Schreiber. Sandlin began last season in High-A Greenville before a promotion to Portland in late July. He started eight games for the Sea Dogs last season, going 0-2 with a 5.61 ERA. He struck out 82 over 57 1/3 innings in Greenville and Portland last season.
Early was drafted in the fifth round out of the University of Virginia by the Red Sox in 2023. He also started eight games for the Sea Dogs last season, going 2-3 with a 4.50 ERA. In 103 2/3 innings between Greenville and Portland, Early fanned 138 hitters.
Sandlin pitched five innings Saturday at Reading to get the win, throwing 78 pitches. Early went 3 2/3 innings Sunday, also a Portland victory, throwing 62 pitches. Sea Dogs manager Chad Epperson said he thinks Sandlin and Early could have a leg up on the rest of the rotation to begin the season, because of the experience each gained in Double-A last year. Uberstine and Monegro will make their Double-A debuts this season, and Wehunt started one game for the Sea Dogs at the end of last season.
"I think in the beginning, pitchers hold the advantage in this kind of (cold) weather. But knowing that you've already pitched here kind of gives you a little bit more confidence and that experience. I'm not saying these guys are vets by any means, for the league, but they do have a few games under their belt and they know what to expect," Epperson said. "Early on, all of these guys are going to be monitored on a pitch count, like they always are. I'm super excited to watch these guys attack the zone. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch."
Advertisement
What the Red Sox want to see from their starters in Double-A is consistency, especially when it comes to throwing everything in the arsenal for strikes. Because of the use of the automated ball-strike challenge system used in Triple-A, the strike zone there is tighter, said Brian Abraham, Boston's director of player development. Being able to work throughout the zone is crucial to making that jump.
"They (Sandlin and Early) have the stuff. They have different repertoires to get guys out," Abraham said. "They need to be able to get strike zone swings and miss."
To Isaac, everything has to start with the fastball.
"Velocity is still king, right? For major leaguers, the standard has continued to rise. For us, it's about creating their major league self in these minor league guys," Isaac said. "In terms of being over the plate with off-speed pitches, we've got to be consistent. Making sure we're dominating over the plate as much as we can, particularly early and late in counts."
Advertisement
Both Sandlin and Early spent a large chunk of the offseason working to increase their velocity. Sandlin's fastball already consistently sits in the high-90s, occasionally hitting 100 miles per hour. Sandlin said he continued to work on developing his splitter and adding a cutter. For Early, adding weight was an additional goal, to help give him the strength to get through a long and rigorous season. He now carries 195 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame, and has seen his fastball tick up from the low to mid 90s.
"David, he's a power pitcher, a high-velocity guy. We want to continue that and make sure that's in a great spot. That's going to be a huge contributor to his success at the major league level," Isaac said. "Early, we've seen gains in velocity as well. He's put on a ton of weight, good and healthy weight. Keeping those guys in the mid-to-upper 90s is a huge priority for us, and throwing over the plate consistency."
There's no Big Three prospects starting the season in Portland, like 2024 when Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel all opened the season on the Sea Dogs roster. Early sees an overall deep team, particularly in the starting rotation.
"We've got a bunch of good players this year," he said. "The group we have is pretty solid, so it should be a good year."
Copy the Story Link
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Shams Charania Drops New Celtics Trade Update on Wednesday
Shams Charania Drops New Celtics Trade Update on Wednesday originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Shams Charania of ESPN was on the "Pat McAfee Show" on Wednesday and the NBA insider dropped some new trade intel on the Boston Celtics. Advertisement The Celtics have to make trades this offseason to avoid having the most expensive roster in the NBA next season. Boston is focused on potentially trading Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis or Sam Hauser, but Charania added that teams are making big offers for Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. "The primary focus, from my understanding, with the Celtics' offseason has been Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Sam Hauser," Charania said. "Their trade markets. However, now are teams making big offers and calling about Jaylen Brown and Derrick White? One hundred percent." "The Celtics prefer not to trade them, from my understanding, but listen, if they get a big offer, they have to look at everything. And I think they're going to get, you know, offers on the three guys that they're focused on. They're going to get offers potentially on Derrick White and Jaylen Brown." He continued. Advertisement "And I think between now and the draft and free agency, they're going to evaluate what makes sense from a value perspective." Boston's roster could look very different next season. © David Butler II-Imagn Images Jayson Tatum is expected to miss all of next season recovering from his right Achilles tendon tear. The Celtics, who were sold for $6 billion, are a second apron team. Boston won the championship last year against the Dallas Mavericks but lost to the New York Knicks in this year's conference semifinals in six games. Tatum tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 4. According to Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports, the Celtics are open to trading anybody on the roster except Tatum. Related: Celtics' Reported Asking Price in Jrue Holiday Trade Revealed This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Red Sox pitcher Hunter Dobbins defends making discrepancies about his father playing for Yankees
BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox rookie Hunter Dobbins made some headlines prior to his first career start against the Yankees last week when he said he'd retire before pitching for New York. Now he's explaining why the claims he made about his father once playing for Boston's longtime rivals aren't the intentional fabrication that a New York Post report says they were. Hunter Dobbins said Wednesday he was made aware of the Post story, but said there is nothing nefarious about the connections he said his father had to the Yankees. 'My feelings and all that are based on my personal experiences and nothing to do with growing up or family,' Dobbins said. 'The whole backstory is stuff I heard growing up and seen pictures of from my dad. At the end of my day it's just from my dad and how I kind of grew my love for the game. But at the end of the day I don't go and fact-check my dad or anything like that.' In a June 7 Boston Herald feature on Dobbins that ran the day before he allowed three runs and four hits in five innings in an 11-7 win over the Yankees, he said that his father, Lance Dobbins, had been drafted twice by the Yankees before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The story also makes reference to Dobbins saying his father was friends with Andy Pettitte, who played 15 major league seasons with New York. But the Post report found no evidence of any of that, citing multiple official databases and the Yankees' own records that couldn't substantiate Lance Dobbins having played with the organizations. Lance Dobbins' own profile on the doesn't list any Yankees affiliation. The 2025 Red Sox Media Guide does mention him on Hunter Dobbins' biography page, but says only that Lance 'pitched for 2 seasons (1996-97) in the Diamondbacks organization.' Dobbins, who is scheduled to pitch again against the Yankees on Saturday at Fenway Park said he has since spoken to his father 'a little, but not really' about the Post story that first noted the discrepancies. 'My whole focus is on Saturday and getting ready to face the Yankees,' Dobbins said. 'This is my first time in the big leagues facing a team for a second time, let alone back-to-back. So that's where my focus is 100%. I imagine we'll talk in the future or something like that. But it's been a bigger deal than it ever really needed to be. But at the end of the day I really just need to get ready to go for Saturday' The 25-year-old is 3-1 with a 4.20 ERA this season. He said he isn't surprised that this story has gotten the attention it has in recent days. 'This is a great rivalry,' Dobbins said. 'Two cities that have a long history together. Anything that's kind of in the news that goes with both of them that's going to turn into a story. It adds to the game and we just have to embrace it and keep rolling.' ___ More AP baseball:
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Berklee College of Music graduates create Boston's theme song for FIFA World Cup
Two recent Berklee College of Music graduates created Boston's Sonic ID, ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup. FIFA invited each of the 16 World Cup host cities in North America to create their own sound, before the eyes of the soccer world turned to them. But Boston was the only city to partner with a college to create its soundscape. Boston's FIFA theme song for World Cup Roommates Deven Kamra Lyons and Ben Zakharenko didn't know exactly what they were in for when their professor told them about an opportunity that could potentially change their lives. "The project was initially introduced to us as a remix competition that Berklee was holding," says Kamra Lyons. Zakharenko adds, "We both were like, OK let's try and apply for this opportunity and just see what happens. We both end up getting in and hearing the initial brief, and then we're like, whoa, this is a really big thing." Kareem Clarke, a member of the professor advisor team says, "From the beginning, Deven and Ben really stood out," Clarke said. "I believe they were the number one from all the options that we had picked." Another member of the advisory team, Professor Jason Petrin, agrees. "Theirs really captured everything we were looking for," Petrin said. "It had the Boston elements that FIFA put forth in the brief. The quality was there, so you know one of the big things is just the quality of the production, the quality of the writing. And theirs really stood out as sounding professional." FIFA wanted each host city to remix its official theme, adding distinct cultural aspects of the region. "There were a couple of things that we saw that they wanted that we really dialed in on," says Kamra Lyons. "One was the Celtic music influence, one was the more rock influence, and one was just getting the city of Boston to be communicated in the work." Zakharenko explains, "I focused a lot more on the acoustic elements, because a lot of our ideas for the remix involved recording flutes, recording guitars, things like that which are instruments that I play." An opportunity to change their lives For the roommates, the decision to work together was an easy one. Kamra Lyons says, "I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do everything by myself." "We were like, well, if we're going to hear what each other are working on anyway, why not just combine our efforts and do something better than either of us could do individually?" adds Zakharenko. A combined 20 to 30 hours of work went into the final winning product. Hundreds of tracks combined to create a distinctive sound. Kamra Lyons tells us, "The true nature and the true scale of this opportunity doesn't really dawn on me yet." Clarke says, "It's really a great opportunity to just see them, their music and their ideas blossom in a nice way, and being given a prompt and being able to execute on a high level is something that's really, really important." "This is why we teach here," explains Petrin. "Students get these amazing opportunities, and they get to share their music with millions of people." Zakharenko adds, "It will open a lot of doors. It already has. And I also just think it's pretty cool to say that we work with FIFA." Gillette Stadium will host seven matches, including one quarter-final, during next year's FIFA World Cup. Deven and Ben's sonic sound will be played at all of them. Click here to listen to Deven and Ben's sonic sound.
