Red Sox prospect Durbin Feltman could follow in Chris Sale’s footsteps
The 100th overall selection by the Boston Red Sox could be the first one of his class to reach the major leagues with a hot start in the minors.
We may not be talking about reliever Durbin Feltman as a prospect in the Boston Red Sox system for very long.
The third-round pick in this year’s draft enters a system thin of talent at the minor league level, and a growing need for relief pitching at the big league level. Questions persist surrounding current right-handed relievers Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree. Despite some solid results from those two, plus Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel, the need for another shutdown arm in the late innings has been the talk of the team since Opening Day.
Feltman has the potential to bring all of that and more. The all-time saves leader at TCU, he worked his way to a 0.74 ERA over 24.1 innings, striking out 43 and walking just six in his junior season. Opposing hitters managed a .143 batting average and two extra-base hits. Two. They were both doubles.
At barely a six-foot frame, he features a mid- to upper-90’s fastball and a power slider, considered to be one of the best offspeed pitches in the draft class. His two-pitch mix paints the profile of a swing-and-miss reliever, and that’s exactly what Feltman is.
High velocity and nasty slider, where have we heard that before? Maybe in current Red Sox ace Chris Sale. As far-fetched as it sounds, Sale’s path to the majors could set a precedent for Feltman.
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The Chicago White Sox drafted Sale after his junior season at Florida Gulf Coast University in the first round. A starting pitcher through-and-through, he made 15 starts and two relief appearances, hurling a 2.01 ERA, 12.8 K/9 and 1.2 BB/9 over 103 innings. With the exception of a work-in-progress changeup, Sale’s arsenal wasn’t too different from Feltman’s coming out of college.
Sale got to work right away in High-A ball later that summer. Four appearances out of relief, four innings, four strikeouts. The Chicago brass had seen the talent they expected, and they quickly moved their lanky lefty prospect up to Triple-A. Seven appearances out of the bullpen, six innings, 15 strikeouts. And that was the end of Chris Sale’s minor league career.
He was with the White Sox by the end of the summer, and proved as a 21-year old that he belonged. A key part of the bullpen, the young Sale threw 23.1 innings to close out 2010, striking out 32 and walking 10 with a 1.93 ERA.
As it turns out, nasty stuff plus pinpoint control is a formula that translates to every level.
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Durbin Feltman is about to begin his professional journey with the Red Sox, and he’ll be one of the most interesting story lines in the pipeline. If he can make his impact early, we could see him pitching meaningful games in Boston by summer’s end and beyond.