A few Boston Red Sox players have returned to spring training from the World Baseball Classic and the regular season looms large just weeks away. Boston has officially started making roster cuts to whittle down the Opening Day squad.
On March 13, the Red Sox officially reassigned reliever Jacob Webb to the minor leagues to start the year. His departure leaves 58 players in big league spring training with just 26 spots on the Opening Day roster.
Webb, a 26-year-old righty (and not the 32-year-old veteran of the same name), has been a prospect in the Red Sox organization since it selected him in the 2021 MLB Draft. He isn't a surprising cut from big league camp after his performance in spring training — he's allowed nine runs on seven hits, struck out seven batters and walked eight over 5.1 innings.
The Red Sox have famously acquired quite a bit of starting pitching depth over the last few years, and even after trading multiple arms this winter, they still have so much pitching that top prospects Connelly Early and Payton Tolle will more than likely begin the 2026 season in Triple-A. Their bullpen depth, however, doesn't look quite as promising, although signing Danny Coulombe certainly helps matters.
Red Sox optioned reliever prospect Jacob Webb to minor league camp
Webb hasn't fared well in Triple-A over parts of the last two seasons. The Red Sox have promoted him at the end 2024-25, but he hasn't delivered in his small sample size of innings. In 2024, he allowed right runs on nine hits over 3.2 innings, and he issued three walks compared to four strikeouts.
He improved slightly in 2025 after he was promoted in September for the second straight year. He surrendered eight runs on 12 hits with 10 strikeouts and seven walks over 11.1 innings. He lowered his WHIP from 3.27 to 1.68 in one season.
Still, Webb's arm needs work against higher-level minor league talent before he can make the jump to the big leagues or be considered a capable depth arm for Boston. He's only pitched 15 innings in Triple-A in his career and he'll have plenty of time this season to refine his command and up his game.
The Red Sox still have a dominiant late-inning tandem at the back of their 'pen in Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman, and Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval could join the reliever mix as long as the rotation is healthy. Alec Gamboa, Wyatt Olds, Noah Song, Tayron Guerrero and eventually Jeremy Wu-Yelland could be minor league depth options, if needed.