Red Sox Shut Down Top Prospect After Rocky Second Half Due To Innings Limit

The southpaw struggled in his transition to Triple-A Worcester

Scott Neville | Sep 21, 2023

Red Sox Shut Down Top Prospect After Rocky Second Half Due To Innings Limit /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are giving one of their most promising prospects an early offseason after approaching career-high innings totals.

"Left-handed pitcher Shane Drohan has been moved to the development list of Triple-A Worcester," The Boston Globe's Alex Speier tweeted Tuesday. "The Sox have decided that he’s hit a workload limit for the season after 123 innings rather than make one more start. Big developmental year for a pitcher with a chance to be a starting depth option in 2024."

Drohan is the Red Sox's No. 18 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and the fourth-highest-rated pitcher in the system.

The 24-year-old appeared to be having a breakout year early on. He started the season 5-0 with a 1.32 ERA, 36-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .161 batting average against and 0.82 WHIP in 34 innings across six starts for Double-A Portland.

The dominant stretch was enough to grant him a promotion to Triple-A Worcester. Unfortunately, he might have been elevated prematurely as he completely unraveled. Drohan went 5-7 with a 6.47 ERA, 93-to-63 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .293 batting average against and 1.87 WHIP in 89 innings for the WooSox.

Drohan still processes the physical tools to become a starting pitcher in the big leagues but will have to bounce back after a terrible run to end the year.

We'll have to wait until next season for a potential comeback.

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Published Sep 21, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu