Red Sox Notebook: Young hurler impressing in Sox system, Roman Anthony earns promotion

There’s a case to be made that the Red Sox have pitching prospects that could impact the big league roster. It just won’t happen this season because the majority of these young arms are in Double-A or High/Low-A.

There’s been hype around pitchers within the Sox system like recently promoted left-hander Shane Drohan (Triple-A), Grant Gambrell (Double-A) Winkelman Gonzalez (High-A Greenville), Dalton Rogers (High-A Greenville) and Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (Low-A Salem) and Luis Perales (Low-A Salem). 

All of these young pitchers are good and talented arms in the Sox system. A farm system that has been devoid of consistently developing young and controllable pitching over the years. You’d have to go back to Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz as true homegrown pitchers to come through the system in recent memory. Brayan Bello is starting to make a case to be added to that conversation, but he only has 12 big league games under his belt.

Another young Red Sox minor league pitcher that has been impressive in the lower levels of the system has been right-hander Hunter Dobbins. 

The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder has been mowing down lineups for High-A Greenville, he’s made six starts, posting a 4-1 record with a 2.57 ERA with 36 strikeouts over 35 innings pitched (six games). 

“The first starts in Greenville were kind of rough," Dobbins told BostonSportsJournal.com. "I was behind the eight ball, I got sick in spring training for a couple of weeks, that set me back for about a month. Finally got up here and didn’t really have the control I had been accustomed too, I had to find some other ways to keep the guys in the ballgame. 

"The last two or three have been a lot better, I found myself and found a groove and with the help of the coaches up here I am really starting to throw the ball a lot better."

Dobbins last start came on June 10, he tossed seven scoreless innings, giving up four hits with no walks and striking out eight batters. Two of the last three starts, he’s thrown seven scoreless innings. 

He contributes a big portion of his success by using all of his pitches to attack the strike zone. 

The Sox' eighth-round pick out of Texas Tech offers a five-pitch mix, fastball, curveball, changeup and slider. He recently incorporated a splitter into the mix, which he’s been working on developing in bullpens this season. 

“I know that the work I have been putting in has slowly been building and progressing and getting better. The splitter is a new pitch this year, every single bullpen I have thrown it in, it’s gotten better and better,” said Dobbins. 

According to SoxProspects.com, Dobbins projects as “Potential organizational depth arm. Ceiling of an up-and-down reliever. Has shown an intriguing fastball/curveball combination after returning from surgery, including holding most of his Fall 2020 velocity increase. Changeup lags behind and combined with delivery, likely future is in the bullpen. Will continue working as a starter and further improvement in stuff could change projection.”

The 23-year-old had Tommy John surgery back in 2021 which delayed his start to his professional career. Dobbins is doing whatever it takes to continue and develop his craft, including learning new pitches. 

“It’s actually a two-way street, 50/50, the splitter was my idea, I threw one early in college and had success. I went away from it after some research. It said that it was bad (to throw), I decided to go back to it, I am really comfortable," said Dobbins.

“I actually brought that to the Sox in spring training and they were like ‘absolutely let’s run with it if you think it’s a good idea."

Admittedly, Dobbins never really threw his slider, it's a pitch that sits around the high-80s but not one he relied on much. After getting advice from the Sox, he’s begun to add the slider back into his arsenal. 

“Another one of my secondary pitches, my slider - I was never a slider guy," he said. "Sox came to me and say to be a big league pitcher, we think this pitch is going to be really big for you. It can be a really big swing a miss pitch. Let’s start working on it. 

“It’s kind of cool how it all works out, now if I need the strikeout, the splitter, the slider are my first two options. It’s honestly pretty cool how the communication goes and how it all just works out."

The righty is starting to see some life back into his fastball post-injury. His fastball has sat around 91-94 mph but has topped out in the high-90s. As Dobbins learns to become a better pitcher, he understands it's more about harnessing his control and having better command on all his pitches, including the fastball. 

“The fastball velo is bouncing back a little bit, it’s gotten to 97 (mph) this year. When it was 98 before, it’s more of I am going to rear back and blow something by you,” said Dobbins. 

“I’m learning how to pitch in that mid-90s range, I have a lot more command and control. If you look at all the successful starting pitchers in the bigs, they all have four pitches that they can all go to whenever no matter what the count is. It was inevitable it was going to happen and hopefully I do get to that point and I have options when I am facing the Juan Soto’s, the Mike Trout’s, I just don’t have three but I have another wrinkle to throw at the them, just as many weapons as possible,” added Dobbins. 

Red Sox promote 19-year-old prospect Roman Anthony to High-A Greenville

The Red Sox have promoted outfield prospect Roman Anthony from Low-A Salem to High-A Greenville, per the team’s minor-league transactions log. 

Anthony is currently ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Red Sox farm system by Baseball America. The 19-year-old was taken by the Sox in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. He signed a $2.5 million dollar deal with the club, forgoing his commitment to the University of Mississippi.

Anthony has spent the entire season with the Salem Red Sox, he’s hitting .228 with nine doubles, one triple, one homer, 18 RBI, 11 stolen bases with 38 walks (202 plate appearances). 

Earlier this season, Baseball America considered Anthony a prospect that could be on the rise. 

“Anthony’s numbers this season might not jump off the page, but scouts who have seen him believe the ingredients are there for a potentially special player,” Josh Norris wrote for Baseball America.  “He has a gorgeous swing from the left side, an outstanding knowledge of the strike zone and raw power that belies his meager slugging output this year at Low-A Salem.

“That raw juice also shows up in his 90th percentile exit velocity, which hovers around 108 mph,” added Norris. “For that power to really begin manifesting itself on the stat sheet, he’ll need to get the ball in the air much more often. Nonetheless, the 18-year-old Anthony has shown a lot of positive markers in his first full season as a pro.”

On the surface, Anthony’s numbers (batting average) aren’t exactly eye-popping and deserving of a promotion. The left-handed hitting prospect has been working to hit the ball in the air more this season (24.6% of the time). 

However, the teenage outfielder rarely swings and misses at pitches in the strike zone (18.8% strikeout). This means he is working the count (18.8% BB), not chasing bad pitches and he continues to hit the ball hard (110 wRC+). 

Anthony is the latest 2022 draft pick to get a taste of High-A Greenville. Left-handed pitching prospects Dalton Rogers and Nathan Landry have already been promoted to the Drive.