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Payton Tolle Worth a Waiver Pickup After Recent Short Outing?
Boston Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle is 4-6 with a 3.39 ERA (3.53 FIP) and 1.12 WHIP with 74 strikeouts and 23 walks in 13 starts across 74 1/3 innings pitched in just his second year in the big leagues in 2026. The 23-year-old southpaw and former second-round pick out of Texas Christian University in 2024 broke a stretch of three straight outings with three earned runs or fewer on Wednesday, when he allowed a season-high six earned runs on seven hits (two homers) while walking three and striking out five in just three innings for his sixth loss of the year. It was the first time since May that Tolle failed to go at least five innings in what was his shortest outing of the season. Despite the poor showing this week, Tolle remains one of the more intriguing young lefty arms in baseball and is still worth a pickup off the waiver wire with an upcoming matchup against the Chicago White Sox, a team that ranks seventh in OPS (.739) but fourth in strikeouts (777). Tolle ranks in the 79th percentile in chase rate and the 62nd percentile in strikeout rate despite giving up plenty of hard contact. He's currently rostered in 60% of Yahoo leagues.
Source: Baseball Reference
Source: Baseball Reference
