Red Sox pitching prospect Shane Drohan struck out a career-high 14 batters in his 10th start (11th overall appearance) of the season for High-A Greenville on Tuesday night.
Matched up against the Asheville Tourists at Fluor Field, the left-hander allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits and just one walk to go along with those 14 punchouts over 5 2/3 innings of work.
Drohan took a no-hit bid into the fifth inning before serving up a two-out solo shot to Astros prospect Cristian Gonzalez. In the sixth, he allowed one runner to reach base on a fielding error and another to reach base on a one-out single. He then served up a three-run home run to Colin Barber that made it a 4-0 game in favor of Asheville. His night came to an end after he fanned his 14th and final batter and was replaced by Casey Cobb out of the Greenville bullpen.
Finishing with a final pitch count of 86 (60 strikes), Drohan wound up inducing 32 swings-and-misses on Tuesday, according to Red Sox Stats on Twitter. Since the Drive ultimately fell to the Tourists by a final score of 6-3, Drohan was the tough-luck loser and is now 3-4 on the year.
In his 11 outings with the Drive this season, Drohan has posted a 4.53 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with 71 strikeouts to 19 walks over 53 2/3 total innings pitched. The 23-year-old is also holding opposing hitters to a .228/.303/.383 slash line against.
Among qualified South Atlantic League pitchers, Drohan ranks sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (11.91), 11th in walks per nine innings (3.19), sixth in strikeout rate (31.3%), second in swinging strike rate (17.9%), ninth in walk rate (8.3%), 10th in batting average against, ninth in WHIP, ninth in FIP (4.02), and ninth in xFIP (3.90), per FanGraphs.
The Red Sox originally selected Drohan in the fifth round of the pandemic-shortened 2020 amateur draft out of Florida State University. The Fort Lauderdale native signed with the club for $600,000 and is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the 47th-ranked prospect in Boston’s farm system.
Per his SoxProspects.com scouting report, the 6-foot-3, 195 pound southpaw throws from a three-quarters arm slot and operates with a three-pitch mix that consists of an 88-92 mph fastball, a 75-78 mph curveball, and a 78-81 mph changeup.
Drohan, who does not turn 24 until January, seems like a prime candidate to get to Double-A Portland by season’s end. There are several things that go into a decision like that, but it would not be surprising to see the lefty pitching for the Sea Dogs before long.
(Picture of Shane Drohan: Gwinn Davis/Greenville Drive)
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