Opening Day for the Worcester Red Sox came this past Friday, and the organization turned to one of the newest arms to take the mound for the start.
While most might have expected top prospect Payton Tolle to get the nod, the team turned to left-hander Jake Bennett. Bennett, who came to Boston in a rare prospect-for-prospect trade, seemed to grab the attention of many in the front office and coaching staff during his Spring Training camp.
"He turned a lot of heads in spring training," Worcester manager Chad Tracy told Baseball Now. "He's a big, tall guy with big extension. When he throws 95 mph, it looks a lot harder than that. It jumps on hitters. He caught the attention of a lot of us in Fort Myers. This is looking like a really, really good starting pitching prospect."
Bennett looked the part in his Triple-A debut and threw three innings of shutout baseball that included only allowing two hits, no walks, and striking out five batters. The Oklahoma product topped out at 95.1 mph on his fastball and averaged 93.4 mph over his outing. It was a planned shorter outing for Bennett, as he is still being ramped up in the cold weather to start the season.
The good start out of the gates for Bennett was important due to being one of the few healthy starters in Worcester currently on the 40-man roster for Boston. As we saw last season, when the Red Sox had to dip into the starting pitching depth quite a bit, Bennett could factor into plans sooner than later if injuries arise, as they did in 2025.