Boston Red Sox First-Round Pick Struggling in Professional Debut
It's been a rough start to the professional career of Boston Red Sox first-round pick Kyson Witherspoon. Is there cause for concern about the 21-year-old starter?
While one Boston Red Sox 2025 draftee, Anthony Eyanson, is off to an incredible start to his professional career, the same cannot be said for first-round pick Kyson Witherspoon, who has struggled through his first month of professional baseball. Is there a reason to be concerned about the slow start for the 21-year-old starter? Seen as a consensus top 10 talent in the 2025 MLB Draft, Witherspoon saw himself slide on draft day before the Red Sox selected him with the No.
15 pick out of the University of Oklahoma. Witherspoon signed with Boston for $5 million, just shy of the $5,114,200 slot value associated with the pick. "He's got a mid-to-high 90s fastball, a 91 MPH cutter, a great breaking ball and elite mentality.
" @jonmorosi breaks down projected first-round pick Kyson Witherspoon ahead of this Sunday's MLB Draft. pic. twitter.
com/UV5b7wqSjY — MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 9, 2025 After spending the rest of the 2025 season in Fort Myers with the remainder of the Red Sox draft class, Witherspoon was assigned to High-A Greenville to make his professional debut at the beginning of this season, where he has not seen the success that his fellow draft classmate has. In his first six starts for Greenville, Witherspoon has allowed 21 runs (17 earned) on 23 hits across 21. 2 innings, which is good for a 7.