The Boston Red Sox face the San Francisco Giants at Fenway Park Friday, after taking two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
But before the opener of the Giants series, the Red Sox delivered good news to one of their right-handed pitching prospects. Griffin Kilander, a 23-year-old who was a largely overlooked 16th-round draft pick in 2024, and who signed for a bonus of only $60,000, was on the move up the Red Sox organizational ladder.
Sonny Gray gets the ball for Friday’s opener, and the series doubles as Rafael Devers’ first trip back to Fenway Park since Boston traded him to San Francisco in June 2025.
Kilander’s Jump to Double-A Portland
The Portland Sea Dogs’ transaction log confirmed the move Wednesday, activating Kilander from High-A Greenville Drive. The promotion arrived inside a wider shake-up of Boston’s farm system that day, including the release of fellow right-hander Austin Ehrlicher, as first detailed by SoxProspects.com’s Andrew Parker.
“Flurry of Red Sox minor league roster moves today,” Parker wrote, listing five separate transactions across the system.
Kilander grew up in Livonia, Michigan, and starred at Livonia Stevenson High School before landing at Wayne State University, a Division II program in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
He worked his way into a full-time rotation role across three seasons, appearing in 34 games with 23 starts, including six complete games. His junior season stood out most, a 4.00 ERA and six wins across 81 innings in 2024, punctuated by a nine-inning, one-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts against Purdue Northwest that earned him national Division II pitcher of the week recognition. A year earlier, he posted a career-best 2.44 ERA and seven victories, good enough for a spot on the All-GLIAC honorable mention team that season.
Boston took him 477th overall and signed him under scout Matt Davis, according to SoxProspects.com. He debuted that summer with Low-A Salem and allowed just one run across four appearances, spent all of 2025 there, then split this season between Salem and Greenville before Wednesday’s jump.
Why the Boston Red Sox Made the Move Now
Kilander carried a 5.04 ERA across 31 appearances split between Class-A and High-A this season. But an 87-to-37 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 64 1/3 innings tells a story the Red Sox organization apparently found compelling enough to fast-track him past a level, as noted by Sports Illustrated‘s Patrick McAvoy.
Kilander works from a three-quarters slot with a 92-94 mph fastball, a two-plane slider in the low-80s and an advanced sweeper that misses bats both in and out of the zone. His changeup adds a fourth look with late, splitter-like dive, and his 6-foot-5 frame still carries room for the fastball to tick up further inside Boston’s pitching development program.
He’s already shown flashes at this level. Kilander earned SoxProspects.com‘s pitcher of the week honors for the stretch of July 6-12, evidence the swing-and-miss traits are starting to show up in results, not just raw stuff. With three minor league option years still in front of him, the Red Sox have no urgency to rush the timeline, but Wednesday’s jump signals they see enough now to find out how the four-pitch mix plays against Double-A hitters.
Red Sox Promote 23-Year-Old Pitching Prospect Before Giants Game