Connelly Early on Facing Jacob Wilson, and Vice Versa

Connelly Early emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in the Boston Red Sox organization this season. The 23-year-old left-hander logged a 2.60 ERA and a 2.74 FIP over 101 1/3 minor league innings, then allowed just five runs over 19 1/3 innings following a September call-up. His first two major league outings — he made four regular season starts in all — were especially impressive. Facing the Athletics on each occasion, Early worked a combined 10 1/3 frames, surrendering a lone run, issuing one free pass and fanning 18 batters.

Jacob Wilson had some noteworthy at-bats against the young southpaw. The A’s shortstop went 2-for-5 against him, singling twice (one of them an infield hit), and also striking out twice. The strikeouts stand out when you consider Wilson’s profile. The second-place finisher in this year’s American League Rookie of the Year race recorded a 7.5% strikeout rate, the lowest among qualified hitters not named Luis Arraez.

The number of pitches he saw from Early (28) and how they were sequenced is what prompted me to put together the article you are currently reading. Between the two games, Early threw Wilson seven curveballs, seven changeups, five sinkers, four sliders, and four four-seamers. And with the exception of back-to-back curveballs in their first matchup, Early didn’t double up on a pitch. That especially caught my eye the fourth time they faced each other when Wilson went down swinging to end a nine-pitch at-bat.

The day after the Early and Wilson battled for a second time, I approached both to ask what they’d seen from each other. As they wouldn’t be matching up again in 2025, asking them for their scouting reports on one another seemed fair game for discussion.

I began with the shortstop.

“He locates the zone very well,” said Wilson, who finished his stellar campaign with a .311 batting average and a 121 wRC+ over 523 plate appearances. “He throws in and away, putting the ball wherever he wants. It’s definitely a tough at-bat. You have to try to look for a mistake early against him. Every pitcher is going to miss, so you’re going to get a pitch in the heart of the zone eventually, but guys who are really good don’t make mistakes too often. He didn’t really make mistakes either of the two times we’ve faced him.”

The second of those outings differed from the first in terms of attack plan.

“He mixed it up a little bit,” explained Wilson, who was especially impressed with Early’s changeup. “He went a lot harder yesterday, throwing sinkers and four-seams a lot more, whereas the first time he was throwing a lot of soft stuff. He’s unpredictable. He’d go hard in, hard away, soft away. Like I said, he puts it where he wants it, and they’re tough pitches to hit.”

I also asked Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker what they saw from the southpaw, but before we get to that, here is what Early said about his approach against Wilson.

“I was trying to let him get himself out,” Early told me. “Make my pitches both in and out of the zone, and hopefully he hits the ball at somebody. He’s a great player. He also covers way more than just the strike zone. Some of the changeups and curveballs that I threw were two or three balls out of the zone, and he would find a way to get his bat to the ball. He’s able to protect against a lot of pitches. He’s a frustrating AB, honestly.

“I was trying to go from softer to harder, or from harder to softer stuff,” Early said of his sequencing. “I was basically mixing it up with him, trying to keep him off balance. I wouldn’t say that there was one specific pitch we felt was exponentially better than others against him, because again, he covers so many areas. But it was generally changeups and four-seams at the top. I also got some four-seams in on him, and threw a couple of sliders and curveballs down. There were some sinkers down and away.”

One of his two strikeouts versus Wilson came on a 93.1-mph sinker, which is among the lesser used of his six offerings. (Along with the aforementioned five, he also throws a sweeper to same-sided hitters.) As it ended their nine-pitch at-bat, I cited the pitch in our conversation.

“I did get him on a sinker away,” Early said. “It was on a 3-2 count, so I wanted something in the zone. I think he might have been expecting something along those lines, but I got away with it on the outer rail. It was definitely nice to get a hitter of his specter out.”

Which brings us to Kurtz, who quickly became one of the most-feared hitters in the junior circuit and beat out teammate Wilson for the AL Rookie of the Year. What did he see from Early?

“He’s a tough at-bat, especially left-on-left,” said Kurtz, who went hitless in five at-bats and struck out three times against Early. “He throws a lot of strikes, and he will mix-and-match with all of his pitches, so it’s tough to figure out what he’s going to throw. He also pitched me a little bit different yesterday than he did in the previous game. In game one, he threw me a bunch of heaters, and this time it was predominantly soft.

“He might have doubled up changeups in one at-bat,” he continued. “His changeup is really good. He may have also doubled up on a sweeper once or twice, throwing one for a strike and another for a ball. He threw me a couple of pretty good sweepers. Mostly, he mixed up between a sinker, a sweeper, and a changeup against me.”

Rooker was even more bullish than his younger teammates when asked for his impressions of Early.

“I think he’s got at least four above-average pitches,” opined the six-year veteran, who went 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts against Early. “The sinker is good. The changeup is good. The curveball is really good. The four-seam plays up. It’s a good mix of a lot of different pitches that he sequences really well. He knows which ones play off the others, and he also threw them where he wanted to. I’m definitely impressed with what I’ve seen from him.”