Red Sox pitching prospect Trennor O’Donnell has been named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for the week of April 21-27, Minor League Baseball announced on Monday.
O’Donnell shined for Low-A Salem in Sunday’s series finale on the road against Hickory. The 23-year-old right-hander scattered three hits over five scoreless innings, striking out seven and walking none en route to notching his first win of the season. He retired the final eight batters he faced and finished with 56 pitches (40 strikes), generating four swings and misses on the afternoon.
The Red Sox ultimately defeated the Crawdads by a final score of 19-1 at L.P. Frans Stadium to salvage a series split and improve to 8-13 on the young season.
O’Donnell, Boston’s eighth-round selection in the 2023 draft, has appeared in four games (made two starts) for Salem so far this year. The Ball State product has posted a 4.20 ERA (3.96 FIP) with 19 strikeouts to nine walks over 15 innings in which opposing hitters have batted .271 against him.
Among the 33 pitchers in the Carolina League who have thrown at least 15 innings to this point in 2025, O’Donnell most notably ranks seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (11.40), ninth in strikeout rate (27.5 percent), and 11th in xFIP (3.83), per FanGraphs. He also ranks 25th in BABIP (.385), which suggests that he may be the victim of some poor luck.
O’Donnell, who turns 24 in June, is not currently ranked among Boston’s top 60 prospects by SoxProspects.com. The imposing 6-foot-7, 240-pound hurler throws from a three-quarters arm slot and incorporates a medium-high leg kick into his delivery. As noted in his SoxProspects.com scouting report, he features an 89-91 mph fastball, a 79-81 mph sweeper, an 85-86 mph slider, and an 86-87 mph changeup. He has also begun throwing a splinker (splitter-sinker hybrid), according to Beyond the Monster’s Andrew Parker.
Since making his professional debut last April, O’Donnell has pitched exclusively at the Low-A level, compiling a career 4.04 ERA (3.33 FIP) with 90 strikeouts to 30 walks over 78 total innings for Salem. Taking that into consideration, it would not be too surprising if the native Texan received a promotion to High-A Greenville in the not-so-distant future.
Regardless of his outlook, though, O’Donnell becomes the second member of the 2025 Salem Red Sox to earn Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honors. He joins fellow righty Blake Aita (March 31-April 6) in accomplishing that feat.
Looking outside of the organization, former Red Sox prospects Brandon Walter (signed a minor-league contract with the Astros after being released last August) and Elmer Rodriguez (traded to the Yankees for Carlos Narvaez in December) were named the Pacific Coast and South Atlantic League Pitchers of the Week for the week of April 21-27, respectively.
(Picture of Trennor O’Donnell: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)
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