{"id":116201,"date":"2026-03-23T20:57:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=116201"},"modified":"2026-03-23T20:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:57:34","slug":"connelly-early-makes-red-sox-opening-day-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/23\/connelly-early-makes-red-sox-opening-day-roster\/","title":{"rendered":"Connelly Early Makes Red Sox Opening Day Roster: Potential Outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/redsox\/2026\/03\/red-sox-connelly-early-makes-opening-day-roster-and-theres-a-twist-in-no-5-starter-competition.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Cotillo of MassLive<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Boston Red Sox pitcher<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connelly Early<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has made his way onto the Opening Day roster. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/earlyco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Early<\/a> made his debut in September of last season, going 1-2 with an ERA of 2.33. In those starts, he struck out 29 batters and walked only four. Despite the record, he did well enough to earn a spot on the postseason roster. He got the start in the deciding game of the American League Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees, where he would be outdone by Massachusetts native <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schlica01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Schlittler<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 610px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBJKeeD2q3\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3434px; aspect-ratio: 3434\/4292;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seeing as the number one through four starters in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/10\/red-sox-rotation-depth-where-will-these-three-starters-end-up\/\" target=\"_self\">Red Sox rotation<\/a> are all locks right now, that leaves the number five starter up in the air. As fellow prospect <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tollepa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Payton Tolle<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> got <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sent down to Worcester<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Monday, that would leave newcomer <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/oviedjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Johan Oviedo<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as his only competition. While Oviedo has more experience, Early has become a fast riser since making his debut.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Connelly Early, Johan Oviedo make Red Sox Opening Day roster, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisCotillo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ChrisCotillo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UnderdogMLB\/status\/2036218198681592273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><b>Connelly Early Makes Opening Day Roster: Why This is Good<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/17\/red-sox-make-rotation-tweaks-10-games-left\/\" target=\"_self\">burst onto the scene<\/a> last season. He struck out 29 of the 79 batters he faced in 2025, which is a strikeout rate of 36.7%. His K\/BB ratio is also very good at 7.25. Despite relying on his fastball the most (29.1%), he <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/connelly-early-813349?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">possesses a six-pitch arsenal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It also includes a curve, changeup, slider, sweeper, and sinker. Against lefties, his deadliest pitch is his sweeper, getting batters at an insane 83.3% whiff rate. Against righties, his curve is the best at 39.4%. His fastest pitches are his fastball (94 MPH) and his sinker (93 MPH).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Red Sox have sent down Zack Kelly, Tyler Uberstine, Payton Tolle and Tommy Kahnle, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexspeier?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@alexspeier<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Johan Oviedo and Connelly Early both remain in big league camp. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/es2tq58zMs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/es2tq58zMs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tylermilliken_\/status\/2036204241635647695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During spring training this year, he dominated. He didn\u2019t get a win or loss in the five games that he appeared in, but he did show a 1.59 ERA in those starts. He had 16 strikeouts to five walks, alongside a 0.941 WHIP. If this is pointing to any signs of what could come this season for the left-hander, Boston\u2019s pitching at the major league level got even deeper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Where Will He Appear?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that Early is up at the major league level, the next question is, where does he get placed? There are only two options for him right now. That is the number five starter or a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/24\/internal-external-left-handed-bullpen-arms-options-red-sox\/\" target=\"_self\">spot in the bullpen<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oviedo is the current number five starter, according to <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/team\/depth\/_\/name\/bos\/boston-red-sox\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ESPN\u2019s depth chart<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, he struggled hard in his last spring training appearance on Monday. The right-hander got shelled in 3 1\/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins, allowing six runs on as many hits. He also walked two batters and hit another.\u00a0 Oviedo finished the spring with a 4.91 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 14 2\/3 innings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result of Oviedo\u2019s outing may have led the Red Sox to make this decision to bring Early up. There\u2019s a lot of promise in the 23-year-old. Is it enough to steal the last spot? Signs would point towards that being accurate, at least in the short term. However, if Oviedo does hold onto the fifth starter role, a bullpen role wouldn\u2019t hurt either side. He could definitely benefit in a long reliever role in a stacked rotation, and Boston could always use another lefty reliever. Either way, a full season of Connelly Early should be fun to watch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early has made his way onto the Opening Day roster. Early made his debut in September of last season, going 1-2 with an ERA of 2.33. In those starts, he struck out 29 batters and walked only four. Despite the record, he did well [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5767,"featured_media":116210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1071,35],"tags":[29128,29135,4891,1308,28646],"class_list":["post-116201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-redsox","category-mlb","category-news","tag-cam-schlittler","tag-connelly-early","tag-johan-oviedo","tag-mlb-prospects","tag-payton-tolle"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5767"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116201"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116212,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116201\/revisions\/116212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}