Connelly Early Reveals Funny Advice Alex Bregman Gave Him After His First Red Sox Start
When Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early made his MLB debut on September 9, 2025, pretty much everything went great. Well … maybe not according to Alex Bregman.
Early struck out 11 batters in five innings of work against the Athletics, tying the Red Sox record for strikeouts in a rookie debut. But following the performance, Bregman apparently expressed one area of concern in talking to Early, something that the left-hander revealed on Friday while appearing as a guest on the Section 10 podcast
“After my MLB debut, on the next day, I went into my meetings with all my pitching coaches and everything, and (I) obviously threw pretty well that outing, and Bregman comes up to me and he’s like, ‘Hey, man, we gotta make sure you’re not tipping pitches.’ And I’m like, ‘Dude, can I have, like, one day or something (to enjoy this), you know?’”
“But yeah, he was on me,” Early continued. “He was like, ‘Yeah, I can see certain stuff from third base.’ So I worked on that a lot in bullpen (sessions) and everything. And that was something that, you know, I hadn’t ever really considered, hadn’t really worked on too much. And obviously (it’s) something that people are looking at a lot in the big leagues.”
Over four MLB outings in the 2025 regular season, Early went 1-2 with a sharp 2.33 ERA, 29 punchouts, and just four walks in 19.1 innings.
The climax of his breakout season came in the American League Wild Card Series against the Yankees, where Early drew the decisive Game 3 start on October 2. Though Boston fell short in a heartbreaking elimination, his unflinching delivery in Yankee Stadium signaled a star in the making.