Ima Gun-Di. Garielvin Silverio. Jace Mataczynski. Salacious B. Crumb. Tobias Beckett. Jedixson Paez. Half of these are characters from the Star Wars universe; the other half are Boston Red Sox prospects. That doesn’t have much to do with the rest of this piece, but recent Red Sox call-up Jedixson Paez’s name starts with “Jedi” and sounds really cool, so my mind went to Star Wars. (Note: it’s pronounced Head-Ick-Son).
Paez hails from Venezuela, whose rate of pumping out baseball players rivals Tatooine’s
rate of pumping out jedis. Was Obi-Wan Kenobi from Tatooine, or did he happen to live there when Luke was a kid? For a nerd who has seen the Star Wars movies too many times, I weirdly don’t know much of the lore beyond what’s depicted on screen. The Pod on Lansdowne crew is going to hate this.
Paez, much like Luke Skywalker, left his home planet of Boston in the 2025 Rule-5 Draft and was taken to Alderaan Chicago to learn the ways of the Force White Sox. This is where the metaphor ends, because Luke doesn’t go back to his home planet for another two movies, and Paez only made three appearances with the White Sox before being designated for assignment and returning to the Red Sox organization.
Over those three outings, Paez failed to record a strikeout, walked three of the 16 batters he faced, and surrendered two home runs to combine for an 18 ERA. On Tuesday, with the rotation being held together by duct tape and Payton Tolle, the Red Sox were in need of a spot start and called upon Paez.
I’ll cut to the chase — the start went poorly. Paez surrendered eight runs over 3.2 innings. He gave up 10 hits, walking two and striking out three. He was booed on multiple occasions throughout the evening. Trevor Story tossed his first career strikeout ball into the stands at the end of an inning. It was an all-around a rough team debut for the rookie.
I want to look at the second inning. Paez was tagged for five earned runs in the frame, but I don’t think he was as bad as the line looks. Josh Naylor started the inning with a double to deep right-center field on a sinker that was on the edge. It was a good swing by Naylor on a pitch that was well-located, but probably doesn’t need to be thrown much against lefties. After that, Cole Young hit a jamshot single on a cutter in a good location. Paez walked the next batter as he lost the zone a bit, and then gave up a sacrifice fly. The next batter hit a chopper over first base that went for an infield single. After that, he left a pitch over the middle of the plate to Randy Arozarena, who hit it one million feet for a three-run home run.
He threw two meatballs that went for home runs in the evening, the second of which capped off the five-run inning. While the inning was far from a masterpiece, to me, it was more a case of a few bad pitches and some bad batted-ball luck that snowballed on a young pitcher. He was put in a tough spot against a good lineup and wasn’t up for the challenge.
That doesn’t mean it’s all bad, though. I saw a few things during the start that can be building blocks. First, his fastball shape. The height-adjusted vertical approach angle came in at 1.1 degrees, a solid mark that should help miss bats and mask poor locations. He also averaged 92 miles per hour with 6.7 feet of extension. The velocity mark is hardly eye-catching, but he throws with such relaxed mechanics and has room to add muscle. The Red Sox have had success in helping pitchers add velocity, and Paez is a prime candidate for offseason improvement.
He also flashed a curveball that doesn’t jump off the page, but his ability to flip it in the zone for free strikes was impressive. He generally kept it down, though a few popped out of his hand and landed above the zone. Through the minors, Paez has been a solid strike-thrower with his fastballs. On a night when his fastballs weren’t there, the curveball gave him a strike-getter and is another arrow in his quiver that he can command well and help him jump in front of hitters.
Speaking of strike-getting weapons, Paez threw a cutter for 90% strikes as well. Given the rest of his arsenal, the cutter is a big pitch to use against right-handed hitters. On Tuesday, he went 6/6 with it, though the locations were poor. At 85 mph with positive horizontal movement, it should work with the right locations.
The real attraction, however, is the changeup. It’s not the typical arm-side running changeup that most pitchers feature, but more of a straight-change. Anecdotally, I find that straight changes are typically more platoon-neutral and can survive better in the zone. Through a short major-league career, the pitch has shown bat-missing ability, registering a 17% swinging strike rate. Even as he struggled on Tuesday, he was able to induce four whiffs with the pitch.
Paez’s stuff isn’t overwhelming, but he has a deep arsenal of pitches that shouldn’t be destroyed when they’re commanded. “Have better command” is easier said than done, but he’s shown elite command in the minor leagues. He has minuscule walk rates in each of his minor league stops. In his brief time in Worcester, each of his pitches has a strike rate over 60%. They’re also generally commanded where they’re supposed to be (featuring my MS Paint handwriting because I was too lazy to pull up Photoshop).
The changeups and sinkers are on the arm-side. The cutter is on the glove side. The four-seam fastballs are generally up in the zone as well. The curveball probably caught too much of the plate, though that might be primarily early in counts to steal strikes. Given his minor league command, I’d expect him to rein it back in once his feet are under him.
Paez was sent back down to Worcester to work on his craft, and potentially stay ready for another spot start if the rotation needs reshuffling. The big league club has an off day each of the final three weeks of the season, so they may be able to shift things around without requiring an extra arm. If Paez is called upon once again, there’s reason to believe he can throw a few solid innings. If we don’t see him again this year, that’s okay too. He’s 22 years old, big, and has a deep arsenal. There’s plenty of time for the Padawan to become a full-fledged Jedi.
