Following an impressive 2024 season that saw Matt Duffy dominate in Salem during his first full professional season, the Boston Red Sox expected for the young pitcher to take the next step forward last year as a pitching prospect. Instead, an injury occurred that derailed his entire season.
Duffy, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2023 draft, made 22 appearances for Low-A Salem. In that span, he tossed 98 2/3 innings with a 2.83 ERA while striking out 100 batters. The right-hander also managed to limit walks, allowing only 27 free passes throughout the entire season. The thought of playing in 2025 was quickly wiped away when he tore his UCL in February, requiring elbow surgery.
“Before I got hurt I was slated to go to Greenville. But I know when I finish my rehab I’ll go back to Salem for probably one or two starts,” Duffy explained when asked about the plan for 2026. “But I don’t really know what the plan is cause it’s kind of far away from now.”
Duffy is one of many young Red Sox pitchers working his way back from injury. While he may not be the highest on the depth chart or prospect lists, as a command-oriented pitcher who has seen his velocity increase from the high-80s to around 93 or 94 mph is an interesting arm to keep an eye on. Should he continue to increase the velocity on his fastball once healthy, he could become another success story for the Red Sox’s pitching lab down the road.
Along with Duffy, Conrad Cason has been working his way back from injury. Drafted in 2024, the two-way player didn’t get a chance to play much in his first professional season as he appeared in just three games, one as a pitcher and the other two on the positional side. In total, Cason tossed two innings and struck out five batters while offensively he went one-for-four with an RBI.
Cason’s season would be cut short when he underwent Tommy John surgery much like Duffy, only his came in August. In an offseason interview with Cason, the two-way player stated that he was doing well in his rehab and that the next step was seeing how his arm would respond during the beginning of spring training.
In the first week of spring training, he appeared to be doing well, playing long toss to test out his arm along with taking batting practice like everyone else. The most encouraging sign for his arm was the fact Cason was taking infield grounders with other minor-league players at both shortstop and second base. After fielding, he would throw across the diamond showing no issues with his arm.
Cason himself said that he felt great and that his arm felt great after throwing, but he would not be pitching in 2026 because of the surgery. He will be playing as a positional player, getting a chance to develop on that side of baseball while he waits for his return to the mound. Despite losing a year of pitching, the team isn’t ready to give up on having him throw off a mound and will look to 2027 to see if he’ll continue as a two-way player or focus on just one aspect of baseball instead.
These two young players will continue to work their way back onto a baseball field as they look to move onto the next step of their careers. While things haven’t gone as planned for either of them, their resilience and talent portends a bright future for both Duffy and Cason.
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