Alex Cora Praises Red Sox Player Development After Rookie’s Historic Debut
The Boston Red Sox have seen a number of rookies shine this year, from Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer to Carlos Narvaez and Payton Tolle.
Connelly Early was the latest to do so, dominating the Athletics in his Major League debut on Tuesday. All he did was rack up 11 strikeouts over five scoreless innings, tying a Red Sox record for most strikeouts in an MLB debut and pitching Boston to its third straight victory.
After the game, Alex Cora praised the 23-year-old rookie along with the Red Sox’s farm system, which has been pumping out Major League-ready players at a dizzying pace recently.
“He was really good…He was prepared, too, which was eye-opening,” Cora said. “He did his own homework, went through it with the coaching staff, and he executed.”
Cora added that Early’s “composure” stood out the most to him, which he credits to Boston’s player development system for preparing prospects for the big leagues.
“I tip my hat to the organization, to player development, because they’ve done an outstanding job producing players,” Cora said. “When they get here, they’re ready to go and they have contributed.”
Cora noted that while much of the recent hype surrounding the Red Sox’s farm system was mainly around position players like Anthony, Mayer and Kristian Campbell, the organization has also had success producing pitchers like Tolle and Early. This is a big improvement for Boston, which has notoriously struggled to develop homegrown starting pitching for much of the last two decades.
Indeed, the Red Sox player development system has done a fantastic job. Boston has been able to call up multiple prospects during the heat of a playoff race and get immediate contributions from them, keeping the team in postseason position even as injuries have sidelined key players.
The Red Sox farm system has provided valuable reinforcements all season, and Early is just the latest example of that.