Former TCU pitcher dazzles in MLB debut with Boston Red Sox
Major League Baseball debuts don’t get much more memorable than the one former TCU standout Payton Tolle had Friday.
The Boston Red Sox left-hander pitcher started against Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes and received a standing ovation when he was pulled with Boston up 2-0 in the top of the sixth inning.
Tolle left two runners on base who ultimately scored, putting his final line at 5 1/3 innings pitched, two runs allowed on three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. The Pirates won 4-2.
“My goodness. Chills. A lot of chills,” Tolle told MLB.com. “I came off the mound after the first [inning] and I couldn’t feel my feet. It was the greatest experience of my life. I’ll look back on this day for a long time, just thinking about this moment.”
Tolle, 22, was taken in the second round of the 2024 draft with the No. 50 overall pick after he was named Big 12 pitcher of the year in his lone season with TCU. He went 7-4 with a 3.21 ERA and 125 strikeouts for the Horned Frogs.
The Oklahoma native began his collegiate career at Wichita State before transferring.
Tolle had a 3.04 ERA over 91 2/3 in the minors before his call-up.
Tolle’s father, Chad, was in the stands next to an empty seat for Payton Tolle’s mother, Jina, who died from cancer two months before the Red Sox drafted him, according to MLB.com.
Tolle was emotional after his debut.
“I was fighting back tears. I’m not gonna lie,” he said of the ovation. “It was special, and the work I feel like I put in for a long time kind of came to fruition in that 30-second little moment there.”
