Kyle Harrison would be excused for thinking that Craig Breslow’s just not that into him. Since acquiring Harrison in the Rafael Devers trade, the Red Sox have handed starts to Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell, Brennan Berardino (thrice!), Payton Tolle, and now Connelly Early, despite Harrison having a genuine prospect pedigree and more experience than all of them: Harrison’s made 34 career big league starts, compared to the 61 total starts made by that collective group, a number that includes
at least 12 outings that were not true starts (damn you, bullpen games!) and is mostly accounted for by Criswell’s 21 career spot starts.
Harrison was a top-25 prospect in all of baseball last year! He’s thrown six or more innings in a start 10 times in his short career! It’s almost Pop Fisher-esque, the way Breslow has continually ignored him despite a rotation that’s been decimated by injuries.
Well, now Harrison will get his shot, though still not as a true starter. Instead, Harrison is expected to pitch in a bulk relief role this afternoon behind Payton Tolle, who will make a shortened start given that he has never pitched on just four-days rest in his professional life. Chris Murphy was optioned to Worcester to make room for Harrison.
It’ll be hard for Harrison to top the performance Connelly Early delivered in his big league debut last night. And even if he’s not able to maintain that level for the rest of the season (spoiler alert: he won’t be), he’s evidence that Breslow’s revamped pitching development program may be working. (Tony Massarotti, The Sports Hub)
And more importantly for the here and now, Early may represent a solution for what looked like the Red Sox’ biggest problem heading down the home stretch of the season. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
Last night wasn’t only puppy dogs and rainbows in the dreamy city of Sacramento, though. Romy Gonzaelz went down with a knee injury in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak. He’s considered day-to-day and doesn’t sound too worried. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
As for the guy Early replaced in the rotation last night, Dustin May, we haven’t necessarily seen the last of him in a Red Sox uniform. May was placed on the IL for what he described as “soreness in the general forearm area.” An MRI revealed no structural damage. May will take a few days off from throwing and then reassess. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
May can take some advice on how to bounce back from chronic injuries from Trevor Story, who is having one of the most surprising seasons in all of baseball this year. He credits a lot of his success to work done with hitting coach Pete Fatse. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)
