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The Boston Red Sox have acquired Class-A relief pitcher John Holobetz from the Milwaukee Brewers to complete an earlier trade.
In the April 7 deal, Milwaukee sent minor leaguer Yophery Rodriguez, a draft pick and a player to be named later — now known to be Holobetz — to the Red Sox for pitcher Quinn Priester.
Holobetz, a fastball-slider-changeup pitcher, was the Brewers' fifth-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Old Dominion University. He has appeared in five games so far for the Carolina Mudcats and is off to an electric start. He has a 3.00 ERA and, more impressively, has struck out 31 batters in 24 innings, holding opponents to a .180 batting average. It has given him a WHIP of 0.875.
Though he was primarily a relief pitcher in college, the Brewers have given him three starts so far this season and the Red Sox are ready to use him as a starter as well, according to RotoWire. They have assigned him and his 95 mph-plus fastball to Class-A Salem.
Holobetz will join Rodriguez, an outfielder, in the Red Sox' minor league system. Rodriguez was the Brewers' No. 7 prospect at the time of the trade. The 19-year-old is now ranked 17th in the Red Sox' system. He's currently playing in High-A Greenville, where six of his 15 hits so far have gone for extra bases. Rodriguez is hitting .224 with an .820 OPS and a .403 on-base percentage, thanks to 19 walks.
As for Priester, he started the season at Triple-A Worcester but went straight to the Majors when the Brewers acquired him. He has appeared in five games, starting four for Milwaukee, and is 1-0 with a 5.79 ERA. Control has been a major problem so far as Priester has a 14.8% walk rate while striking out only 15.7% of batters.
Though he has struggled, Priester has his manager's support. After he gave up seven runs in 4.1 innings of relief in a 10-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs over the weekend, Pat Murphy praised Priester as a “competitor.”
“You can say Priester was awful if you want to, but there's some signs that you can see why we [traded for] him,” Murphy said via Ryan Herrera of MLB.com. “There's some signs there that show the kid's got really good stuff, and he's a great competitor.”
