The Red Sox are fighting for their playoff survival in the final days of the 2025 MLB season, and while the immediate future looks positive, it only takes two bad days to throw the standings into chaos. With a bullpen that has been taxed and could possibly use another arm, team head honcho Craig Breslow said this week that he would be willing to call up 22-year-old righty Luis Perales–even as he is still coming back from Tommy John surgery in 2024.
With Perales hitting 100 mph in relief appearances for Triple-A Worcester this week, the idea of bringing him in as a swing-and-miss reliever for the closing days of the Red Sox playoff push is at least being measured.
“We’ll balance his recovery from Tommy John with the possibility that he can help us,” Breslow said, via MassLive. “He’s a really, really exciting young arm and before he got hurt, I think we saw a little bit of that upside with a fastball that’s (hitting) triple-digits and a dominant cutter and split.”
Luis Perales Coming Back From Tommy John
Perales has long been among the Red Sox’s top pitching prospects, even before the team brought in the likes of Payton Tolle and Connelly Early from the collegiate ranks in the draft. In five seasons at all levels of the Red Sox minor league chain, Perales has gone 6-11 with a 3.31 ERA, with an eye-popping 228 strikeouts in 163.1 innings.
But he had Tommy John surgery last year and has spent most of this season on the shelf, recovering. He has thrown just 2.1 innings this season, and gave up two walks and two runs while getting only one out for the WooSox over the weekend.
Red Sox Need Arms to Close Season
The Red Sox want him to pitch more, but does it makes sense in Boston? Especially with Tolle now slated for a bullpen role? Tolle has thus far made only two appearances out of the pen since he was demoted after his September 10 start.
Perhaps the Red Sox would trust Perales more than Tolle in a high-leverage situation.
“He’s got real swing-and-miss stuff,” Breslow said. “So I think he’s got an incredibly bright future and we just got to balance, like I said, pushing him if we think it helps us with the overall health picture.”
Red Sox Pitching Future Looks Bright
The big picture is certainly the key here. The Red Sox do not want to push Perales and risk further injury. But assuming he gets back to health, with the speed with which he has moved up the chain in the past two seasons, there is a chance he could have a shot at a rotation spot in 2026.
Tolle (who is 22) and Early (who is 23) will, too.
With Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello penciled in for the 2026 rotation, the competition for the rest of the spots will be fascinating. The Red Sox could re-sign Lucas Giolito, who has had a very good season in returning from an elbow injury and would be written in as the No. 3 starter.
After that, there would be Tolle, Early and Perales, as well as the two promising, but injured, young pitchers, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford. The Red Sox also have Kyle Harrison, who is only 24, and impressed in his first start with the franchise last week (6.0 innings, four hits, two walks, five strikeouts, one run).
The Red Sox also have Patrick Sandoval coming back from injury, as well as 2025 contributors Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins.