Red Sox reportedly promote top prospect Payton Tolle to pitch vs. Paul Skenes

Tolle has gone from a starter in High-A ball to making his big-league debut in the span of a few months.

Payton Tolle has made the jump from High-A to MLB in one season. Gwinn Davis/Greenville Drive

August 28, 2025

2 minutes to read

The Red Sox are reportedly calling up their top prospect for an anticipated pitcher’s duel at Fenway Park.

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Red Sox are expected to promote lefty Payton Tolle on Friday in what will be his MLB debut and first start in the big leagues.

The 22-year-old starter will have quite the task in front of him, as he’s expected to battle against Pirates ace (and NL Cy Young favorite) Paul Skenes in the anticipated matchup in Boston.

Thursday’s news marks the end of a meteoric rise for Tolle, who is still in the midst of his first full season of pro baseball. A second-round pick by Boston in the 2024 MLB Draft out of TCU, Tolle has dominated at every stop on his road to The Show this summer.

After opening the 2025 campaign with High-A Greenville, Tolle — who clocks in at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds — has rocketed up through Boston’s farm system.

He appeared in just six games (five starts) with Double-A Portland earlier this season, sporting a 1.67 ERA while striking out 37 batters over just 27 innings of work. He also only pitched 15 innings with Triple-A Worcester before reportedly getting his call to Boston — posting a 3.60 ERA over three starts while striking out 17 batters.

After a rough first outing with Worcester (five earned runs over five innings on August 10), Tolle closed out his brief tenure in Triple-A by allowing just one run and four hits over his final two starts — to go along with 14 strikeouts and just one walk.

Payton Tolle's latest outing for the Triple-A @WooSox:

🔴 Fans 9+ for the sixth time this season
⚪️ Raises K/9 to 13.1 (5th best in the Minors)
🔴 Allows 1 hit, 0 walks

The @RedSox No. 2 prospect has allowed one run over his past 14 innings. pic.twitter.com/hGCB3W36ec
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 23, 2025

With Dustin May struggling since arriving in Boston and Walker Buehler demoted to the bullpen, Tolle could serve as another shot in the arm for a Red Sox team that has been elevated this season with an influx of young talent.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow noted last week that Tolle’s production on the mound made him a viable call-up candidate — even with his quick rise through Boston’s system.

“When there is a guy with these unique traits and what we think should be weapons that will translate into the big leagues, then you start to look at the variables that are introduced by changing the environment, the crowd, the stadium,” Breslow said recently to The Boston Globe‘s Alex Speier. “By all accounts, he is a kid that kind of elevates his game. We don’t anticipate that the stage is too big for him. So, if we think he’s ready, we wouldn’t hesitate to give it a shot.”

Going up against Skenes still stands as a daunting matchup for Tolle, as the ace righty is 8-9 this season with Pittsburgh with a 2.07 ERA and 181 strikeouts over 161 innings of work.

First pitch for Friday’s game at Fenway is set for 7:10 p.m.