Since Craig Breslow took over as chief baseball officer, the Red Sox have completely transformed their pitching infrastructure, and in a few short years the club has gone from an organization that struggled to develop young pitching talent to one of the best in baseball.
The fruits of that labor is now clearly evident, not only at the big league level but at every rung along the minor league ladder.
Look no further than the WooSox, whose season-opening rotation is as talented as any you’ll find in Triple-A.
On Friday afternoon, recently acquired left-hander Jake Bennett, who ranks as Boston’s No. 7 prospect, started the WooSox’s season opener at Polar Park. Tyler Uberstine, who ranks No. 15 and was in the mix for a big league roster spot up until the end of camp, started on Saturday, and Payton Tolle, the club’s No. 1 prospect who rose from High-A to the majors in his first full professional season, is set to start on Sunday.
Those three could eventually be joined by Connelly Early or Johan Oviedo, both of whom made the Opening Day big league roster, and potentially by veterans Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, who missed all of last season due to injury and are expected to begin rehab assignments in the near future.
Any of those guys could conceivably start in the majors, which is not something the Red Sox have been able to say about most of their Triple-A starters in the past.
Top Red Sox pitching prospect Payton Tolle will make his season debut on Sunday for the WooSox. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)
“It’s very exciting,” said WooSox manager Chad Tracy on Friday. “The depth of starting pitching that, maybe we didn’t have as much of when I first got here, is different than it was.”
Having so many quality arms in the majors and in Triple-A has had a trickle down effect on the rest of the system, too. Tracy noted that certain guys like Blake Wehunt and Hayden Mullins, both of whom are expected to start the year at Double-A Portland, have performed well enough that in past years they may have already earned a shot in Worcester.
Instead they’ll remain with the Sea Dogs, mainly because there simply isn’t enough room for them at the higher levels yet.
“I think it’s worth stating that there are arms in Double-A that are also really quality arms,” Tracy said. “Some of them, (Blake) Wehunt and Hayden Mullins, that turned heads, had good seasons last year that aren’t here yet but there is depth behind it of guys that really, when you look at it, have probably earned an opportunity to be here.”
“And that’s not even talking about (Kyson) Witherspoon and some of the other guys that are new to pro ball that also could move fast,” Tracy added later. “So we’ll see how it goes but there are a lot of exciting arms in our organization.”
Witherspoon, the Red Sox’s first-round draft pick last summer, is part of the club’s new Big Three of premium pitching prospects alongside fellow draftees Marcus Phillips and Anthony Eyanson. Those three are expected to open the year at High-A Greenville, giving that affiliate’s rotation its own jolt of star power.
Time will tell how those three and the club’s other top prospects progress, but the Red Sox have reached a point where even if one of their big league starters goes down, they’ll have capable arms behind them ready to pick up the slack.
And when those guys move up, others will be waiting behind them for their own shot.
NESN’s new look
Red Sox fans have become accustomed to a particular look when watching a game on NESN. The network has used a familiar scorebug and graphic style for the past few years, and those carried over into its spring training coverage this season as well.
But when fans tuned in on Opening Day, they immediately noticed something different.
On Thursday, NESN debuted a new suite of graphics for its Red Sox broadcasts, the most significant being its radically redesigned scorebug. The new scorebug appears larger and includes more information, but it’s also a jarring departure from what fans have grown accustomed to and drew a mixed initial reaction.
According to a collection of NESN scorebugs compiled by Twitter/X user @TVSportsUpdates, NESN’s previous scorebug had been in use since 2017, though the graphic had seen some tweaks and updates over the years, most notably replacing the NESN logo with the pitcher’s name in 2020 and later adding the batter as well.
The history of scorebugs for Red Sox broadcasts on NESN. pic.twitter.com/lhSBsHdHjt
— Sports TV News & Updates (@TVSportsUpdates) March 26, 2026
Functionally, the new scorebug is a major improvement. The score is bigger and easier to read, the bases and count are brighter and stand out more against a darker background, and the design more seamlessly integrates the pitch clock as well as information like the batter’s exit velocity.
But visually the scorebug will take some getting used to, and its first impression on Thursday was not good.
The first time the scorebug appeared, it was accompanied by a gigantic advertisement that significantly increased the amount of space the graphic took up and remained for the entire inning. The effect was magnified by the fact that the scorebug also had an “Opening Day 2026” banner on top as well, which made it appear even bigger.
Compared to the old scorebug, which was compact and unintrusive, the new one seemingly took up the entire upper left quarter of the screen.
Things improved somewhat in the second inning when the initial ad disappeared and was replaced by a different, smaller one. Those ads are probably going to be a fact of life for fans going forward, but if NESN can figure out a way to make them a little less disruptive, I expect the new scorebug will ultimately be accepted.
At the very least NESN did a better job designing its new scorebug than the one Netflix used on its Opening Night broadcast, where viewers needed a microscope to read the pitcher and batters’ names, the pitch count and pretty much everything else outside of the score.
Former Red Sox ace Roger Clemens throws out the ceremonial first pitch at Polar Park before the WooSox’s season-opener. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)
Clemens in top 10?
If you spend enough time scrolling through social media you’re bound to come across some graphic hyping up the top-five this or the top-10 that. Evidently one such list ranking the top-10 Boston athletes caught the eye of former Red Sox great Roger Clemens, who wasn’t among those listed and reposted the graphic with an eyebrow-raised emoji.
— Roger Clemens (@rogerclemens) March 24, 2026
Speaking at Polar Park prior to throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for the WooSox’s season opener, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner was asked about the post. And while he said his son handles his social media and sent the post on his behalf, he does believe he should be considered one of the 10 greatest athletes in Boston history.
“One hundred percent,” Clemens said. “That’s not even a question.”
The list Clemens was reacting to had Tom Brady ranked No. 1, followed by Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, Ted Williams, Bill Russell, David Ortiz, Rob Gronkowski, Carl Yastrzemski, Pedro Martinez and Paul Pierce. That’s a pretty impressive group, but does Clemens have a point?
Clemens is without a doubt one of the greatest players in Red Sox history. Over 13 seasons from 1984-96, Clemens went 192-111 with a 3.06 ERA and 2,590 strikeouts in 2,776 innings. He was a five-time All-Star, won three Cy Young Awards and ranks near the top of most of the club’s pitching leaderboards. His 80.7 wins above replacement also ranks third in team history behind only Williams and Yastrzemski, and he went on to collect even more accolades after leaving the Red Sox.
That last part complicates things, because if the question is greatest Boston athletes then Clemens becomes tougher to include considering his late-career heel turn.
If you’re under 40 years old, which at this point is a sizable chunk of all Boston sports fans, you probably weren’t old enough to watch Clemens in his prime with the Red Sox and instead remember him primarily as a villain with the Yankees. Clemens won both of his World Series championships in New York and was part of two Yankees teams that eliminated the Red Sox in the ALCS.
Not every great Boston athlete spent their entire careers in the city, and some — like Brady and Gronkowski — even won championships in another uniform. But few athletes of his caliber evolved into such an oppositional force, so it’d be hard to blame people if they wanted to put someone like Pierce, Ray Bourque or John Havlicek on their list even if Clemens’ resume stacks up against the rest.
Vasil out for season
Mike Vasil, a former BC High star from Wellesley, will miss the entire 2026 season after suffering an elbow injury that will require Tommy John surgery. The Chicago White Sox right-hander had been competing for a spot in the club’s starting rotation, and the injury reportedly occurred during a spring start on March 14, which Vasil left after just 3 2/3 innings.
Mike Vasil of the University of Virginia pitches during a game at Boston College on May 21, 2021 in Brighton. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
The White Sox rotation will still have strong New England representation. Danvers’ Shane Smith was the club’s Opening Day starter, Sutton’s Sean Burke earned the No. 2 spot, and former UConn standout Anthony Kay won a job as well after spending the last two seasons pitching in Japan.