When Sonny Gray stretched awkwardly and grabbed his leg in the third inning of the Boston Red Sox's Patriots' Day game against the Detroit Tigers, fans assumed the worst — as this disaster of a start to the season has conditioned them to do.
Gray left the game and the Red Sox quickly announced that he experienced hamstring tightness. After the game, Alex Cora said Gray will go for an MRI, despite thinking that his injury isn't serious. The veteran has dealt with hamstring issues before and Boston is seemingly operating under the assumption that this one will be no different.
According to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, Gray's two other hamstring injuries resulted in two-to-three-week injured list stints, which is a decent outcome considering the damage some strains can do. This would still be an uncomfortable result for the Sox, whose rotation is already struggling and depth pitchers Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval and Tyler Uberstine on the bench with different injuries.
But all is not lost for Boston. It still has top pitching prospect and the No. 1 prospect in the organization, Payton Tolle, in Triple-A. If Gray needs a stay on the IL, Tolle is the obvious next call for the Red Sox, who could use a spark.
Red Sox fans are clamoring for a Payton Tolle call-up if Sonny Gray needs an injured list stint
Payton Tolle struck out 6 in 5 scoreless innings on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/tYzAbmQmjl
— Red Sox Player Development (@RedSoxPlayerDev) April 14, 2026
Tolle has posted a 3.00 ERA over three appearances in Triple-A, with 19 strikeouts and four walks over 15 innings. His ERA is still inflated from his first outing of the season when he allowed four runs and walked two batters in four frames. In the two starts since then, Tolle has allowed one run on seven hits over 11 innings, good for a 0.82 ERA.
The Red Sox have already considered calling Tolle up, making his fit for Gray's roster spot even more certain. Tolle didn't make his scheduled Triple-A start on Saturday and didn't go the following day because the Red Sox were possibly going to have to play a doubleheader on Patriots' Day due to bad weather on Sunday.
Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello have struggled out of the gate this season and Connelly Early and Ranger Suárez can't be expected to hold the rotation up by themselves. Tolle is still a prospect with a newly-updated arsenal which surely still needs work, but his energy is unparalleled — he brings emotion and spark to the mound, just as Willson Contreras does at the plate, which the Red Sox desperately need.
Tolle's fellow top pitching prospect, Jake Bennett, could also be a candidate to replace Gray in the rotation. Bennett, acquired from the Washington Nationals over the offseason in exchange for Luis Perales, has posted a 0.55 ERA and a 0.61 WHIP with 13 strikeouts and two walks over 16.1 innings. Those are the only innings he's pitched in Triple-A, however, while Tolle has some major league experience from last year, making the latter the more likely call-up option.
Red Sox fans would love to see Tolle back in the big leagues for redemption after the way his season ended last year (6.06 ERA in the majors). Hopefully, Gray doesn't need an IL stint and he can remain in the rotation to work back up to his usual strikeout numbers, but Tolle would be an excellent temporary replacement among the starting five.
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