The Red Sox have some startling pitching depth in their pipeline. And one of the recent additions beginning to make a name for himself is Jake Bennett.
After making a couple of starts this season for the big league club, Boston's No. 6 prospect is back at Triple-A Worcester honing his craft. And the results were evident as he racked up a career-high 11 strikeouts in Wednesday's 7-2 extra-inning loss to Rochester at Polar Park.
Bennett lowered his Triple-A ERA to 1.84 after allowing one run on seven hits without a walk in five innings against the Red Wings. The 25-year-old southpaw tallied 15 swings-and-misses in his seventh start of the season at the Minors' highest level.
Going against the organization that drafted him in the second round in 2022, Bennett struck out at least two batters in every frame but the second, when Andrew Pinckney (WSH No. 20) led off with a homer.
COMPLETE RED SOX PROSPECT COVERAGE
The Oklahoma product ended his outing in dramatic fashion after Rochester loaded the bases to begin the fifth. Bennett responded by fanning Yohandy Morales (WSH No. 28), Abimelec Ortiz (WSH No. 25) and Pinckney to escape the jam.
The Red Sox brought Bennett into the organization last December in a trade for flamethrower Luis Perales (WSH No. 8). He earned the win in his MLB debut against the Astros on May 1 at Fenway Park. That night also marked the home debut of interim manager Chad Tracy, who had also gotten the callup from Worcester.
Even though he returned to the WooSox after a rough second outing in the Majors, Bennett is considered to be part of the future of Boston's young arsenal alongside starters Connelly Early and Payton Tolle, with rising arms like Anthony Eyanson (BOS No. 2) working their way through the system not far behind.
For the season at Worcester, Bennett sports a 2-2 record and a 1.06 WHIP with 30 strikeouts over 29 1/3 frames with batters only hitting .232 against him.