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Boston Red Sox' 2025 first-round pick Kyson Witherspoon entered the season as Baseball America's No. 66 prospect. After a slow start to the season, where the 21-year-old right-hander posted a 7.18 ERA in his first seven starts with High-A Greenville, Witherspoon found himself on the outside looking in at the June update to the Top 100. Now, after some growing pains, the righty is finally showing why he was a first-round pick.
Witherspoon's struggles can be traced back to two things in particular: walks and home runs. Through 51 innings pitched, the 21-year-old has allowed 4.76 batters per nine innings to reach base via the walk, the sixth-highest rate among all South Atlantic League pitchers with at least 50 innings of work. Similarly, his 1.24 home runs allowed per nine innings ranks 11th-highest.
Despite the struggles with command and home runs, Witherspoon has continued to be one of the more prolific strikeout pitchers in the South Atlantic League, striking out 24.3 percent of the batters he's faced, the ninth-highest rate.
In his last five starts, though, Witherspoon appears to have turned a corner. He has allowed just eight earned runs on 18 hits in 24.2 innings pitched, good for a 2.92 ERA, also striking out 28 batters while walking 11. That stretch also features the best start of his young career: Friday on the Jersey Shore against the Philadelphia Phillies High-A Affiliate, the Blue Claws. In five innings of work, the 21-year-old allowed two earned runs on four hits while walking two and striking out a career-high eight.
"The consistency has been the biggest factor, the stuff has been there, but attacking the strike zone...competing and getting to the guy we drafted is incredibly important," Red Sox Senior Director of Player Development Brian Abraham told WEEI's Rob Bradford of Witherspoon on the Baseball Isn't Boring Show on Sunday morning. "Whenever we get players, arms in particular, there's obviously adjustments and changes that we bring to the table, but I think Kyson is a really good example of not wanting to forget who he is as a pitcher... I think the last couple outings we've really seen that," he continued.
The Red Sox selected Witherspoon with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of the University of Oklahoma, signing him for $5 million. He is currently the No. 3 prospect in the Boston system according to SoxProspects.com. He is 2-3 with a 5.12 ERA in 12 starts with Greenville.
According to Andrew Parker of SoxProspects.com, the Red Sox are promoting their No. 40 prospect, third baseman Jack Winnay, to Double-A Portland. In 56 games in Greenville, the 23-year-old impressed, hitting .255/.434/.457/.891 with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs.
Red Sox No. 13 prospect catcher Franklin Primera has followed up his FCL Hitter of the Week honors with another strong performance for the FCL Red Sox. In four games over the last week, the 19-year-old went 6-for-13 with two home runs. Overall, Primera is hitting .464/.589/.821/1.410 with eight home runs and 28 RBI in his 27 games stateside.
Meanwhile, back in Boston, the Red Sox were unable to complete the three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners, falling 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. They'll continue on their six-game West Coast trip on Monday afternoon in Denver when they kick off a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies. Rookie lefty Jake Bennett (1-3, 4.79 ERA) will get the start for Boston opposite righty Ryan Feltner (2-2, 5.05 ERA) for Colorado. First pitch from Coors Field set for 8:40 p.m. ET.
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Witherspoon's struggles can be traced back to two things in particular: walks and home runs. Through 51 innings pitched, the 21-year-old has allowed 4.76 batters per nine innings to reach base via the walk, the sixth-highest rate among all South Atlantic League pitchers with at least 50 innings of work. Similarly, his 1.24 home runs allowed per nine innings ranks 11th-highest.
Despite the struggles with command and home runs, Witherspoon has continued to be one of the more prolific strikeout pitchers in the South Atlantic League, striking out 24.3 percent of the batters he's faced, the ninth-highest rate.
In his last five starts, though, Witherspoon appears to have turned a corner. He has allowed just eight earned runs on 18 hits in 24.2 innings pitched, good for a 2.92 ERA, also striking out 28 batters while walking 11. That stretch also features the best start of his young career: Friday on the Jersey Shore against the Philadelphia Phillies High-A Affiliate, the Blue Claws. In five innings of work, the 21-year-old allowed two earned runs on four hits while walking two and striking out a career-high eight.
"The consistency has been the biggest factor, the stuff has been there, but attacking the strike zone...competing and getting to the guy we drafted is incredibly important," Red Sox Senior Director of Player Development Brian Abraham told WEEI's Rob Bradford of Witherspoon on the Baseball Isn't Boring Show on Sunday morning. "Whenever we get players, arms in particular, there's obviously adjustments and changes that we bring to the table, but I think Kyson is a really good example of not wanting to forget who he is as a pitcher... I think the last couple outings we've really seen that," he continued.
The Red Sox selected Witherspoon with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of the University of Oklahoma, signing him for $5 million. He is currently the No. 3 prospect in the Boston system according to SoxProspects.com. He is 2-3 with a 5.12 ERA in 12 starts with Greenville.
In other Red Sox prospect news
According to Andrew Parker of SoxProspects.com, the Red Sox are promoting their No. 40 prospect, third baseman Jack Winnay, to Double-A Portland. In 56 games in Greenville, the 23-year-old impressed, hitting .255/.434/.457/.891 with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs.
Red Sox No. 13 prospect catcher Franklin Primera has followed up his FCL Hitter of the Week honors with another strong performance for the FCL Red Sox. In four games over the last week, the 19-year-old went 6-for-13 with two home runs. Overall, Primera is hitting .464/.589/.821/1.410 with eight home runs and 28 RBI in his 27 games stateside.
Meanwhile, back in Boston, the Red Sox were unable to complete the three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners, falling 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. They'll continue on their six-game West Coast trip on Monday afternoon in Denver when they kick off a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies. Rookie lefty Jake Bennett (1-3, 4.79 ERA) will get the start for Boston opposite righty Ryan Feltner (2-2, 5.05 ERA) for Colorado. First pitch from Coors Field set for 8:40 p.m. ET.
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Remember to join our RED SOX on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Red Sox fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
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