Red Sox starting pitching prospect Brandon Walter
The Red Sox MiLB pitcher of the year in 2021 wasn’t some flashy 20-year-old prospect. He wasn’t someone that’s a household name either, or a top-five prospect. It was someone that in just his second season in the minors proved to be a dominant force though and absolutely earned his way in to many people’s knowledge of the system. Brandon Walter had an impressive 2021 season, and it has to make you wonder what’s next in 2022.
Now, Walter is pretty far off still when you consider he spent 2021 between Low-A and High-A. However, in that time he was utterly dominant. The left-handed pitcher combined for 89 1/3 innings between the two levels. In that time he posted a 2.92 ERA, .199 BAA, and 0.97 WHIP. He went 5-4 (made 14 starts in 25 appearances), had two holds, and went 2-for-2 in save opportunities. Oh, and he struck out 132 batters compared to just 20 walks. The stuff is nasty.
Still though, he spent time in Low-A and High-A. So how is he even on this list, you ask? There are a few reasons actually.
First of all, Walter might have split time between the two, but he spent most of his time in High-A (58 1/3 innings). With that in mind, there’s a decent chance he starts 2022 in Double-A. Second, this is a 25-year-old (turned 25 at the end of last season) with College experience. He’s already more polished than a lot of pitching prospects. So even if he is starting in Double-A (with no previous experience at the level) in 2022, it still isn’t all that far off from the Majors.
Walter will need to continue proving he can dominate in the minors. Boston will likely slow their roll on him if he’s just pitching “okay”. But if he keeps putting up numbers like he has been (also had a 2.30 ERA, .208 BAA, and 1.02 WHIP in 33 1/3 innings in 2019), we could see him in the Majors this season.
This is a frustrating one. If the 2020 MiLB season happened, I feel like Walter would be a much bigger name in baseball. He’d either already be in the Majors or he would be getting talked about as a serious pitching prospect. But because of the year off he’s suddenly a 25-year-old with 122 2/3 innings pitched in the minors. And that cools the talks a little bit.
Still though, if he gets called up this year (or even next) you could absolutely get at least a decade out of him. That’s nothing to be upset about.
Overall though if we’re being honest, the chances of Brandon Walter getting called up in 2022 still don’t feel like a definite or anything. But it’s not unlikely, if that makes any sense. It’s sort of in that sweet-spot right in the middle of it all. And because of that, his temperature rating is sitting at “room-temp”.