FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox pitching prospect Jeremy Wu-Yelland was limited to just four innings combined in 2022 and 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The 26-year-old lefty, who Boston selected in the fourth round of the 2020 Draft out of the University of Hawaii, then struggled when he returned. He posted a 5.67 ERA over 33 ⅓ innings in 2024.
But he kept on pushing, stayed positive and appreciated his situation as someone who plays baseball for a living. That led to him enjoying an eye-opening 2025 season.
“I think at the end of the day, you’ve got to keep things in perspective,” Wu-Yelland said. “I missed a lot of time playing, but at the end of the day, I’m playing baseball. That’s all I can really ask to be doing.”
The lefty started last year strong at High-A Greenville, then earned a May 8 promotion to Double-A Portland. He posted a 3.18 ERA and held hitters to a .193 batting average in 34 innings with the Sea Dogs. He struck out 37% of the batters that he faced.
He’s put himself back on the radar. The Red Sox invited him to 2026 big league spring training camp as a non-roster invitee.
Former Red Sox scout J.J. Altobelli, who signed Wu-Yelland, remembers the lefty always having a good perspective on life.
“When I met with him, he was a pretty soft-spoken kid but you could tell that he was determined and that’s kind of what you’re looking for in a pitcher,” said Altobelli, now a coach at Rice University. “So he kind of fit the mold for us.”
Wu-Yelland said being invited to big league camp is “really cool.”
“But obviously the ultimate goal is not to come to big league spring training,” he said. “It’s to help the Boston Red Sox win a World Series.”
Can he help the 2026 club? The Red Sox initially felt it might not take him long to reach Boston.
“When we drafted him, I know we thought he could be a pretty quick riser through the system just because of how electric his fastball was,” Altobelli said.
Altobelli said the Red Sox felt his fastball “could play at the big league level pretty quickly.” But injury setbacks delayed his rise.
“I think it speaks to his character and his love for baseball to be able to work through all those setbacks,” Altobelli said. “To put himself in a position to be at big league spring training is a testament to him and the people he’s had around him. It’s pretty special. I know a lot of people might give it up with all that he’s gone through, but it’s cool to see him persevere … He’s got a great opportunity in front of him now.”
An opportunity exists, as Boston has a lack of left-handed relievers with experience. Aroldis Chapman is the only left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster with more than 81 big league appearances.
“I’m not really too concerned with the opportunities that I can’t control myself as far as how they’re created or things like that,” Wu-Yelland said. “I know that just as far as my God-given ability, there’s always kind of an open door for me as a lefty that can run off the gun a little bit.”
The Red Sox transitioned him from starter to reliever after he returned from Tommy John surgery.
“I think it maybe fits my personality a little better,” Wu-Yelland said. “Obviously, I’m open to doing whatever helps the team win. But just kind of being told, ‘Go right now and be ready as soon as you can,’ that’s always kind of where I’ve thrived, as far as at any point in my career, even as a hitter, as a fielder or anything like that. When you put a task right in front of me, that’s kind of when I have the most success.”
Wu-Yelland throws a fastball, cutter, sweeper and changeup. His heater topped out at 98 mph in 2025.
“I think a big thing for me last year was just kind of getting my early-count sequences down,” he said. “The cutter has been a really big pitch for me the last two years. Just knowing that I can kind of fill up the zone with that one whenever I want. So that’s really my bread and butter.”
Wu-Yelland, who’s listed at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, throws a hard cutter for strikes.
“I have a bias for supination in terms of how my arm moves, so I can throw it pretty hard,” he said. “And I think that’s the thing that kind of sets it apart.”
A supinator’s palm goes inward and upward while a pronator’s palm goes downward and outward.
“I’m really comfortable throwing it in any count,” he said. “I throw it pretty hard and I can throw it for a lot of strikes.”
He’s been able to pile up strikeouts by pounding the strike zone. He averaged 14.0 strikeouts and 3.2 walks per nine innings between Greenville and Portland last year.
“I’m a guy that I’m gonna get some swing and miss in the zone,” he said.
His mindset is simple. He feels he doesn’t have to do too much. He just has to throw strikes.
“As long as I can box it up in the zone, hitters get themselves out,” he said. “I think hitting, a lot of it is luck based. If you go off the numbers, 70% of the time, at the very worst, I’m going to be successful. Understanding that and just knowing that all I have to do is attack has been a really helpful thing for me.”
He threw a slider his first full season of professional ball in 2021 when he recorded a 3.91 ERA and .203 batting average against in 23 starts for Low-A Salem and Greenville.
He said that the slider has morphed into his cutter.
“I just kind of figured out how to throw it a little harder, backspin it a little better,” he said. “And that incidentally led to me putting it in the zone a lot more and then needing a bit more of a bigger breaker.”
He added a sweeper.
“They showed me a grip. I just ripped a couple and I think that’s how pitch design should go,” he said. “If you’re meant to throw this pitch, it’ll be very obvious early on and that’s kind of what it was.”
Supinator pitchers often throw a kick changeup but he throws a regular changeup that runs to his arm side.
“I think with my slot I can kind of just think about spinning it the right way and throwing it as hard as I can and finally get it to do the right thing,” he said. “The last couple years, that’s actually been a struggle for me is getting pitches that move to my arm side.”
WATSON THROWING STRIKES
Ryan Watson, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound righty who the Red Sox acquired in the Rule 5 Draft, threw a live batting practice Tuesday.
“He threw a lot of strikes,” manager Alex Cora said. “That’s what we want. Stuff is really good. Obviously everybody’s going to start comparing him to the (Garrett) Whitlock situation and (Justin) Slaten. One thing they did — they threw strikes from the get-go. And today was a good day for him.”
Both Whitlock (in 2021) and Slaten (in 2024) made the club as Rule 5 draft picks.
“I’ve been leaning on Whitlock and Slaten, asking them some questions,” Watson said. “Those are two great resources.”
The 28-year-old righty is here at camp needing to win a spot on the Opening Day roster. His Rule 5 Draft status requires him to spend the entire 2026 regular season on Boston’s 26-man roster (barring an IL stint) or else the Red Sox must designate him for assignment.