Red Sox's Highly Regarded 24-Year-Old Predicted To Miss Playoff Roster Cut

How will Boston juggle the lefties?

May 10, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; A general view of a Boston Red Sox's cap and glove on the field before a game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images | Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox have sure seen a lot of roster mayhem this year, but no day stands out more than June 15.

That was the day Boston's best hitter, Rafael Devers, was traded to the San Francisco Giants in the most shocking deal of the Major League Baseball season. Remarkably, the Red Sox rebounded from a mediocre season to that point to make the playoffs, while the Giants tumbled out of contention.

Now that they've made it to October, though, the Giants have to decide whether anyone involved in that trade will be on the postseason roster.

Will Kyle Harrison make Red Sox's playoff roster?

Sep 26, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Kyle Harrison (38) pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Jose Bello is years away from the majors, while James Tibbs III is now in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Jordan Hicks was brutal while healthy before he got hurt. That leaves only lefty Kyle Harrison as a possible representative from the Devers trade on Boston's roster for the upcoming Wild Card Series.

Harrison has made just three appearances for the Red Sox since being recalled from Triple-A, but they've been good ones, and he has a legitimate roster case. However, on Saturday, Ian Browne of MLB.com left the 24-year-old off his initial projection for Boston's 26-man first-round roster.

Browne projected that the lefties in the Red Sox's bullpen for the series would be Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson, Steven Matz, Connelly Early, and Payton Tolle. The latter two are rookies, and Tolle is probably Harrison's main competition for a spot.

Harrison has outpitched Tolle in his 12 innings for the Red Sox, with a 3.00 ERA compared to Tolle's 6.06. But the 22-year-old Tolle throws harder, having touched 100.8 mph on Sunday, and has already begun working out of the bullpen over the last two weeks, while Harrison has stayed in the rotation.

Meanwhile, Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, and Lucas Giolito led the Red Sox in innings by a wide margin this season, and Browne agreed that they wre locks to be the team's three starters for the best-of-three set.

There would certainly be a strong case to include Harrison over Tolle in a longer series (either best-of-five or best-of-seven), or both might even make it if the Red Sox decided to carry just 13 position players in favor of an extra arm.

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