Red Sox Promising Hurler Acquired From Yankees Ranked No. 20 MLB Rookie

Will he remain in Boston's rotation throughout 2025?

Oct 15, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; A Boston Red Sox hat and glove on the field prior to game three of the American League Championship Series baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-Imagn Images / Andrew Weber-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox’s young talent is headlined by its “Big 3” prospects, but Boston also has a couple of promising young pitchers in its stable.

One of those hurlers is 25-year-old Alabama native Richard Fitts, a former sixth-round selection of the New York Yankees in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.

Fitts made his MLB debut last fall and enters the 2025 season as a member of Boston’s rotation due to injuries. On Tuesday, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter ranked Fitts the No. 20 rookie in baseball.

“With Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford all on the injured list, Fitts had an opportunity to break camp with a spot in the Red Sox rotation,” Reuter wrote.

“The 25-year-old was acquired in the deal that sent Alex Verdugo to the Yankees prior to last offseason, and he had a 4.17 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 111 strikeouts in 116.2 innings at Triple-A (Worcester Red Sox) last year.”

Fitts made his first start of the season on Sunday versus the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Fitts had a solid outing despite picking up the loss. The former Auburn Tiger pitched six innings, struck out four, and allowed six hits and three earned runs. Fitts was accurate, too; he threw 53 strikes out of 71 pitches and walked nobody.

It was the kind of outing that Boston’s manager Alex Cora and pitching coach Andrew Bailey were surely happy about coming from the fourth spot in the rotation. If the Red Sox offense had picked up the slack, Fitts would’ve left Texas with a 1-0 record.

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