Red Sox pitching prospect Connor Seabold was slated to make his eighth start of the season for Triple-A Worcester at Polar Park on Friday night. The right-hander has instead been scratched from his outing due to a pectoral strain, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier) earlier Friday evening.
Seabold is currently regarded by Baseball America as the 10th-ranked pitching prospect in Boston’s farm system and has impressed early on with the WooSox this season. Over seven starts, the 26-year-old has posted a 2.45 ERA and 2.86 FIP with 37 strikeouts to 10 walks over 36 2/3 innings of work.
Among qualified International League pitchers, Seabold ranks 12th in strikeout rate (25.2%), 11th in walk rate (6.8%), 11th in swinging strike rate (12.5%), fourth in batting average against (.179), third in WHIP (0.93), sixth in ERA, third in FIP, and 22nd in xFIP (4.38), per FanGraphs.
Given that he made his major-league debut last September and is already on the Sox’ 40-man roster, Seabold — as noted by MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith — is one of Boston’s top depth starters at the Triple-A level alongside Kutter Crawford, Josh Winckowski, and Brayan Bello.
Cora relayed that the Red Sox do not believe Seabold’s injury to be serious, but it is unclear how long the righty will be sidelined for. In the meantime, left-hander Thomas Pannone will start in place of Seabold for the WooSox on Friday.
Should Boston need a starting pitcher to come up from the minors in the coming days or weeks, that responsibility will likely fall to Crawford or maybe even Winckowski.
(Picture of Connor Seabold: Katie Morrison/MassLive)
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