Red Sox рrosрeсt (һаrdly ever аllows а HR) һаs ‘oрen’ eyes on 40-mаn roster

Red Sox right-handed pitching prospect Hunter Dobbins received the phone call from director of player development Brian Abraham last Tuesday. Abraham gave him the good news: Boston was adding Dobbins to its 40-man roster before the deadline to protect Rule 5 Draft eligible players.

Red Sox prospect Hunter Dobbins pitches for Double-A Portland against Somerset on Aug. 20, 2024. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)Portland Press Herald via Getty

“They put you on the 40-man because they expect me to be able to help the big league team this year,” Dobbins said. “And so it opened my eyes to realize I need to be ready to help the team in any way that I can — whether that’s starting, bullpen or whatever. It definitely kind of opened my eyes and got me to focus even more than I already was.”

Baseball America ranks the 25-year-old Boston’s No. 21 prospect. He won 2024 Red Sox minor league Starting Pitcher of the Year after posting a 3.08 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and .237 batting average against in 25 starts for Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester.

Dobbins throws hard, sitting 95-97 mph as a starting pitcher. The Red Sox have built up significant starting pitching depth at Triple A and could use Dobbins, with his high-end velo, out of the bullpen early in his career the same way they did with Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck. Crawford impressed so much during spring training 2022 that he made the Opening Day roster as a reliever. He worked his way into the rotation by July.

Dobbins has experience as a reliever. Fifteen of his 20 appearances at Texas Tech were out of the bullpen.

“Honestly, I would be really comfortable with it,” Dobbins said. “My freshman year at Texas Tech I was fully out of the bullpen, and I made a couple spot starts here and there, which I feel like would be my role this year. Then, my sophomore year, I was coming out of the bullpen on the weekends and I would make starts on Wednesdays. So kind of another year where I was doing both. Really the only time I’ve been a full-time starter is in pro ball.”

Sixty-one of Dobbins’ 62 appearances in the Red Sox minor league system have been starts.

“I’ve always been a guy whether I’m coming out of the bullpen or I’m starting, I like to have the same mentality and the same approach to everything,” Dobbins said.

Dobbins enjoys working out with other pitchers. He worked with fellow prospects Richard Fitts, David Sandlin and Isaac Coffey last offseason. He said getting the chance to attend big league camp for the first time in February will be a great opportunity to work side-by-side with experienced pitchers like Houck, Crawford, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and as he put it “whoever we (add).” The Red Sox are in the market to add a front of the rotation starter this offseason.

“And also getting to work with (pitching coach) Andrew Bailey,” Dobbins added about what he’s looking forward to come February. “I feel like I’ve made a lot of strides in the last couple of years to become a really great version of myself but I think we’ve seen what Andrew Bailey can do and unlock some stuff guys didn’t even know they had. So I’m really looking forward to that.”

Maybe Dobbins’ most impressive stat from 2024 was he gave up just two home runs in 125 ⅔ innings.

“I honestly haven’t really paid attention to it much,” Dobbins said about his minuscule 0.1 strikeouts per nine innings. “I don’t think I’ve ever been a guy that has given up a whole lot of home runs. I think this year, it was really the first year I felt full-go.”

Dobbins missed his final year at Texas Tech because of Tommy John surgery. Boston then drafted him in the eighth round in 2021 and it is believed he dropped several rounds because he was coming off the procedure.

The 2022 season was his first year back from injury and he made just 17 starts (69 innings) with his first coming two months into the season. He then battled some vertigo symptoms during spring training 2023, a setback he said caused him not to begin the season the way he wanted. He also said he was more focused on his development in ‘23.

“This past year, it was one of those where we knew what my arsenal was going to be for the most part,” Dobbins said. “I really focused on developing those (pitches) and then being able to attack hitters in that way. It really helped me have the mindset of, ‘I’m going to go right after these guys. I know my stuff is good. And I’m not going to be, for lack of a better term, scared.’ So I think kind of having that mentality of just going right at guys — plus having a five-pitch mix doesn’t hurt either — it kind of keeps the hitters off-balance to where they couldn’t get their A swing off as much.”

In addition to his hard fastball, he also throws a splitter, sweeper, cutter (also known as a gyro slider) and curveball. He has a newer splitter grip and the pitch plays like a splinker, a hybrid between a splitter and sinker.

He recorded an impressive 55.6% groundball rate in his final four starts after his promotion to Worcester. He also had 22 strikeouts in 20 ⅔ innings (9.6 strikeouts per nine innings).

“Once I got up to Worcester, the splinker really took a turn for the better,” Dobbins said. “So having something that would move in to the righties, away from the lefties.”

He said his cutter — which is more of an 88-91 mph gyro slider — working along with his splinker helped increase his groundball percentage.

“Having those two pitches really complementing each other, I think I was able to kind of miss barrels below the barrel and also kind of get that weaker contact and be able to pitch low in the zone,” he said. “Because prior to the splinker, I was a riding-cut-four-seam guy and a curveball guy. And that typically leads to more fly balls. But having the splinker and that sharper slider allowed me to kind of keep the ball out of the air a little bit more.”

As Baseball America wrote, “Though his strikeout rate was modest, he avoided barrels, allowing just two home runs.”

“I definitely think that now that I’m not messing with my arsenal this offseason, I can really hone in those pitches. I expect the K per 9 to go up a little bit,” Dobbins said. “My core philosophy and belief of the pitcher that I am is I’m not really the guy who goes and chases strikeouts. I don’t go and try to punch out the world. I’m going to live off soft contact because at the end of the day, I want to be 12 to 15 pitches an inning. That way you look up and still see me still standing out there in the sixth, seventh inning.”

Dobbins felt there was a good chance that the Red Sox would place him on the roster. If not, he felt there would be a pretty good chance of him getting selected in the Rule 5 Draft.

“I tried my best to not think about it and focus on it as much,” Dobbins said. “But it was definitely one of those, it was a pretty big relief when I saw Abe’s number pop up because I love the group of guys that I’m around. And so it’s going to be a lot of fun being able to stick with guys like Marcelo (Mayer) and all those guys I’ve come up with. So definitely a load off when I got the call.”

Hunter, the hunter

What does Dobbins do in his free time away from baseball?

“You can either find me golfing or hunting and fishing,” he said. “I grew up kind of in the country, out there doing the outdoor stuff with my dad and my little brother. So I still like to do that. I feel like it kind of keeps me grounded and reminds me of where I come from. But I also feel like if I wasn’t a pitcher, I would definitely be trying to make it on the PGA because I can’t get enough of golf.”

Keep an eye on Early

Baseball America ranks left-handed pitching prospect Connelly Early as having both the best changeup and curveball in the system.

MassLive recently listed Early as one of nine prospects who has a chance to make his MLB debut in 2025.

He averaged 12.0 strikeouts per nine innings in 23 starts (103 ⅔ innings) combined between Greenville and Portland this past season. The 2023 fifth rounder out of Virginia struck out 30.8% of the batters he faced. Opponents batted just .214 against him.

BA releases Red Sox Top 10

Baseball America released its 2025 Top 10 Red Sox prospect list Monday. It ranks Kristian Campbell — the newest member of Boston’s Big Four — No. 2 behind Roman Anthony and ahead of Marcelo Mayer (No. 3) and Kyle Teel (No. 4).