PHOENIX — A week after Payton Tolle’s sparkling debut at Fenway Park, when he went toe-to-toe with the great Paul Skenes, the 22-year-old lefty got a taste of how much of a roller-coaster acclimation to the Major Leagues can be, even for a top prospect.
Tolle labored from the outset on Friday night at Chase Field, throwing 78 pitches over just three innings as the Red Sox fell to the Diamondbacks, 10-5, in the opener of a six-game road trip.
“It wasn’t quite going to cut it,” said Tolle. “Long at-bats. Not putting guys away. Kind of struggled with some feel, especially with some off speed pitches there. Just got to keep going, keep competing with it. Whatever we’ve got, we’ve got. It sucks. It’s not fun. Just got to learn from it and move to the next one.”
It was just 14 months ago Tolle was selected with the 50th overall pick of the 2024 Draft. While that seemed hard to believe last week against the Pirates, when he punched out eight in 5 1/3 innings, Boston’s No. 2 prospect as rated by MLB Pipeline looked very much the part of someone trying to adjust to the best level in the world in his first pro season.
“I think they’re going to be up there with a plan and they’re going to execute that plan, too, more times than not. Guys are thinking through at-bats more [than in the Minors],” Tolle said. “It’s just something I have to keep learning as much as it sucks.”
Command, as it usually is in these instances, was the issue.
“The secondary pitches — well, he didn’t have any secondary pitches today,” said Cora. “And then the fastball command was off. The first [start], it was up. He attacked the upper rail. Today, he was trying to do that, but it was down, and they did a good job covering that pitch.”
Tolle walked four, including a pair with one out in the third that led to a momentum-swinging three-run homer off the bat of Ildemaro Vargas
“Their starting pitcher does something that a lot of pitchers don’t do — it’s 95-plus with seven and a half feet of extension,” said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo. “And we were prepared for that.”
This is certainly an interesting spot for Tolle, as these are clearly foundational days in his career. But every game is important for the Red Sox coming down the stretch.
“For sure, and he wouldn’t be making that start if we didn’t believe in him,” said Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman. “We believe that he gives us a great chance to win every time he steps out there. And I look forward to the next one and many more after that.”
From Tolle’s standpoint, he looks forward to his next outing.
“Got to learn fast,” Tolle said. “We hate failing, but if you don’t fail you’re not going to learn anything. Got to pull something out of it. I just can’t go back to the hotel room and sit there and feel sorry for myself. I have to learn about something and be able to take it into next week.”
Even the most accomplished players remember what it was like to be a young player breaking in.
“Yeah, big time,” Bregman said. “I started 1-for-36 so it was a grind, but being able to fail and get yourself out of it is big time, especially for guys that have never failed before at the game. It’s a game of failure. You’ve got to learn how to dig yourself out of it when you get into it. And I think it’s a good thing, especially for the young guys that we’ve got in this room.”
The coaching staff, from Cora on down, will do all they can to support Tolle.
“It’s his second start at the big league level. We’re getting to know him,” Cora said. “Although we have a lot of information, and we see video and all that stuff, this is different. That lineup, it’s pretty good against lefties. They did an outstanding job against him. So we just have to take a look at the video and the information and go from there.”
