Whenever your name is associated with Babe Ruth in any capacity, you know you’re in rarefied air.
According to ESPN’s Sarah Langs, rookie Connelly Early will be the youngest Red Sox (89-73) pitcher to start a postseason game for the franchise since Babe Ruth in 1916.
Early (1-2, 2.33 ERA) will be 23 years and 182 days old when he takes the mound for Thursday’s series finale against the Yankees (94-68). 109 years ago, Ruth was 21 years and 246 days old when he took the mound for game two of the 1916 World Series.
In a 14-inning thriller, Boston beat the Brooklyn Robins 2-1 in a game that saw Ruth pitch all 14 innings, giving up 6 hits, 1 earned run and 3 walks while only recording 4 strikeouts.
He threw 145 pitches that day, 91 of them for strikes.
I think it’s safe to say Early gets nowhere near these numbers, given the youngster hasn’t even tossed 20 full innings of work in total at the MLB level since being called up to Boston from Worcester in August.
With that said, the Red Sox would benefit mightily from Early going as deep as he possibly can into the ballgame.
Earlier this week, conventional wisdom around Boston’s game three starting pitcher situation was that Early would serve as an opener-of-sorts, with manager Alex Cora ready to use the Red Sox bullpen in the matchup game for the bulk of the middle innings. With Lucas Giolito (10-4, 3.41 ERA) likely out for the remainder of the postseason with an elbow injury, this always felt like Boston’s best option.
But with Cora having to use six bullpen arms on Wednesday after pulling Brayan Bello (11-9, 3.35 ERA) at only 28 pitches through 2.1 innings, Early isn’t going to have the same type of rested arms waiting for him as security blankets.
Add in the fact that Boston’s best setup man in Garrett Whitlock threw a season-high 47 pitches across 1.2 innings of work, and it’s starting to feel Early won’t be seeing the early hook (pun intended).
Like with Bello, the leash might be short. But I don’t think Cora is going to force pitching changes for the sake of pitching changes if Early is rolling.
With only 19.1 innings of work through 4 career MLB starts, it’s truly trial by fire for the former Virginia Cavalier.
And in as rare an instance as you will find in baseball, the Yankees will also throw a rookie in Cam Schlittler (4-3, 2.96 ERA).
Two pitchers making their postseason debut in a series-deciding game three. Pretty cool stuff.
Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.