Red Sox

Selecting with the mindset of ‘best available,’ Red Sox take 14 pitchers in 2024 MLB Draft

“It was kind of where the board fell.”

The Red Sox snagged Steven Brooks, a 6-foot-6-inch righthander, out of Cal Poly in the 11th round.

By Sarah Barber, The Boston Globe

July 17, 2024

The Red Sox entered Day 3 of the 2024 MLB amateur draft with a plan to have no plan.

After Rounds 3-10 wrapped up Monday, Red Sox amateur scouting director Devin Pearson said the club’s goal was simply to take the best available athlete with each pick.

There wasn’t a plan to selecting specific positions, but the Sox walked away with 14 pitchers, tied with Detroit and Seattle for fourth most in this year’s draft.

“It was kind of where the board fell. But I think as a result of changing just some ways of how we’ve been valuing pitchers, but yeah, it wasn’t a clear ‘We need to draft college pitchers,’ it just kind of felt that way,” Pearson said after the draft concluded.

The Sox selected their first pitcher, TCU lefthander Payton Toole, in the second round, before taking six more pitchers on Day 2 and seven on Day 3. It was a pitching-heavy draft, with 353 of 615 draftees mound-bound. The Brewers drafted the most pitchers (17), followed by the Guardians (16), Royals (15), and Angels (15).

All 14 of Boston’s pitching selections played at the collegiate level, and second- and third-round picks Toole and Brandon Neely are likely to garner attention as they develop. But Sox fans shouldn’t overlook the later picks, like 11th-rounder Steven Brooks and 12th-rounder Brady Tygart.

Brooks is a righthander coming out of California Polytechnic Institute. He started 31 games in 43 career appearances for the Mustangs while posting a 5.34 ERA (5.14 over 15 starts in 2024). At 6 feet 6 inches, Brooks is formidable on the mound and has strong control of the zone — this past season he threw 82⅓ innings, recording 72 strikeouts and 23 walks, giving up 78 hits and five home runs.

“Brooks we had at a workout recently. [He] throws a ton of strikes, big frame. Could potentially add some strength and velocity there, and we can get up to some better pitch shapes,” Pearson said.

Tygart was the top high school pitching prospect out of Mississippi in 2021, and there was speculation he might go earlier in this year’s draft, but a shoulder injury this past season with Arkansas pushed him down.

“He’s a guy who has been famous for a long time, and we saw it as an opportunity to add a really talented pitcher to the mix who maybe had a down year for his standards, and one we can help get back to productivity,” Pearson said.

The righthander has four solid pitches in his arsenal, the strongest being a high-spin curveball. He also has a hard, upper-70s sweeping slider that features good horizontal action. Scouts said they would like to see more velocity separation between his mid-80s changeup and 90-93 miles per hour fastball.

Boston’s selection of Tygart was followed by the 13th-round pick (387th overall), righthander Shea Sprague, a Hanover native and BC High alum who spent his most recent college season pitching for North Carolina, where he was 4-3 with a 3.94 ERA, 69 strikeouts, and 36 walks in 59⅓ innings. Pearson said the Sox see a lot of potential in Sprague, and anytime Boston can pick up a New England player it’s a plus.

“Our group really liked him,” Pearson said. “I think [he’s] a strike thrower that we’re hoping to add some velocity to and get in the weight room with our group and just continue to build his body.”

There are certainly standouts among Boston’s non-pitching selections as well. Most obvious is probably 19th-round selection D’Angelo Ortiz, a 20-year-old third baseman and son of Hall of Famer and Red Sox legend David Ortiz.

Aside from Ortiz, the Sox took Arkansas catcher Hudson White in Round 9 and drafted four outfielders: first-round pick Braden Montgomery, fourth-rounder Zach Ehrhard, seventh-rounder Will Turner, and 17th-rounder Yan Cruz.

Pearson noted Turner was a development pick for the Sox. The lefthanded outfielder out of South Alabama moved his hands lower on the bat this year to get the ball in the air on the pull side. Pearson said Turner might have adjusted his hand positioning a bit much in terms of launch, but the Sox have a plan.

“It’s something that we think we can attack developmentally … get him to a nice mix of what he’s done in the past, but also continue to grow and add bat speed and strength, and it’s one we’re really excited about as a hitting group,” Pearson explained. “He’s always made good swing decisions, he’s always made a lot of contact.”