Five months later Early reported to camp with 15 pounds of added muscle, and Monday he put those gains to good use.
Early was sharp in his first start of spring training, throwing two scoreless innings in Boston’s eventual 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. The 23-year-old left-hander threw 27 pitches, 18 for strikes, and allowed one walk and one strikeout with no hits or runs.
“I felt good today,” Early said following his outing. “Body felt good, did a good job getting here a little bit early and staying in my routine and I felt comfortable out there.”“He was good,” said manager Alex Cora. “There’s a few things as a young pitcher we want him to work on, slowing down the running game. I thought he did a good job with the baserunner, mixing up his look and all that. Stuff was really good. It was a good start for him, now we just go.”
While two innings is too small a sample size to draw any firm conclusions, Early’s 94.8 mph fastball was a notable tick up from the 94 he averaged in 2025. Cora said they hope Early’s increased physicality will allow him to maintain his velocity deeper into games and the season as a whole, and Early said he’s confident there’s still more room for improvement as camp goes along.
“I think it was a pretty good spot today, hopefully that continues to go up as the weather goes up but obviously once you get back to Fenway in the cold sometimes it’s a little bit down because of that,” Early said. “But yeah, I felt good, I just want to stay healthy and go about my routine the right way.”
Early was one of Boston’s biggest minor league success stories last season, rising from relative obscurity to earn a late-season call-up while helping pitch the club into the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Once there Early got the start in Boston’s do-or-die Game 3 against the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card Series, and while the Red Sox lost the game, Early pitched well and was ultimately undone by poor infield defense and bad luck.
But those opportunities were only possible because numerous other starters ahead of him on the depth chart either got hurt or underperformed. Now with veterans Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval and fellow upstart Payton Tolle all competing for the last rotation spot, Early could find himself back in Triple-A to start the season even if he does everything right this spring.
Even still, Early understands better than anyone that things can change in an instant, so after finishing last season on the mound at Yankee Stadium, he said he’ll be ready whenever his number is called.
“It motivated me a ton, obviously having them trust me with the ball out there in that start was really big,” Early said. “Obviously it didn’t really go the way I would’ve wished, but sometimes baseball happens and it makes you hungry for the next year trying to get back into that same position.”
Rays walk it off
Runs were hard to come by for both teams in Monday’s game, which remained a scoreless tie into the ninth inning. The Red Sox finally broke the ice on a two-out RBI triple by Mickey Gasper, but the Rays rallied in the bottom of the ninth with a single, a double and a walk-off two-run single by Jonny DeLuca.
Carlos Narvaez (2 for 3) was the only Red Sox player with more than one hit, and Boston tallied eight hits as a team.
Kelly stands out
Monday was a stellar day for Boston’s relievers, including Zack Kelly, who struck out two with one hit in his scoreless inning of work.
Kyle Keller, Wyatt Olds, Noah Song and Jeremy Wu-Yelland each pitched scoreless innings as well, and T.J. Sikkema was charged with one run over 1.2 innings.
Locals take field
Two players with ties to the Boston area appeared in the game for the Rays. Former St. John’s of Shrewsbury standout Ian Seymour came on in relief of starter Drew Rasmussen and threw two scoreless innings with two hits and two strikeouts, and ex-Central Catholic great Dominic Keegan subbed in at catcher in the sixth inning and went 0 for 1.
Upcoming arms
Ranger Suarez will get his first start in a Red Sox uniform on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he is expected to be followed by Ryan Watson, Alec Gamboa, Seth Martinez, Vinny Nittoli and Jacob Webb.
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