Why Did Red Sox Draft Kyson Witherspoon? Profiling Flamethrower's Fit In Boston

An eight-year drought was broken on Sunday evening.

With the 15th overall pick in the Major League Baseball Draft, the Boston Red Sox selected University of Oklahoma right-handed pitcher Kyson Witherspoon, marking the first time they'd taken a pitcher in the first round since 2017 (Tanner Houck).

And there's a lot of reason to be excited about the Red Sox bucking the trend, because a Boston team that needs more young starting pitching is getting an electric arm.

Witherspoon, 20, posted a 2.65 ERA in 95 innings for the Sooners this past season, striking out 124 batters. He's got a five-pitch mix, led by a high-90s four-seam fastball, two dirty breaking balls, and a cutter that some think could become his primary pitch.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound Witherspoon was rated the 10th-best prospect on MLB Pipeline's pre-draft rankings, so the pick could be considered something of a steal. On the MLB Network broadcast, analyst and former major league general manager Dan O'Dowd had extremely high praise for Witherspoon.

"This guy has more upside than anybody that's been taken from a pitching standpoint," O'Dowd said. "I think this young man is scratching the surface of what I think he can be."

Meanwhile, here was what the evaluators at MLB Pipeline had to say about Witherspoon before the draft in the aforementioned scouting report:

"Witherspoon has swing-and-miss stuff, starting with a mid-90s fastball that peaks at 99 mph and stands out more for its power than its modest life. His mid-80s slider can touch 91 mph while featuring both horizontal action and depth, and he'll turn it into an upper-80s cutter that he uses just as often. He's showing more consistency with his low-80s downer curveball, giving him another plus offering, while his upper-80s changeup is a work in progress that gets too firm but will show interesting fade at times.

"Witherspoon uses a compact arm action to generate quality stuff with little effort. His athleticism and mechanics have translated into improved control and command this spring, and better location has made it easier for him to get hitters to chase outside of the strike zone. He has all of the ingredients to become a frontline starter."

The Red Sox's starting pitching has looked a lot better in June and July, but there's still legitimate worry about whether they have their future number-two behind Garrett Crochet. And even if they do, every rotation needs a three and four.

Someday soon, Witherspoon could undoubtedly become a key member of that rotation. It will be fascinating to see how quickly he progresses.