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Red Sox trade: Who’s Gage Ziehl (2024 Yankees pick), who Boston acquired from White Sox?
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- Red Sox trade: Who’s Gage Ziehl (2024 Yankees pick), who Boston acquired from White Sox?
The Red Sox received Gage Ziehl, a mid-level pitching prospect, in their trade that sent Jordan Hicks and prospect David Sandlin to the White Sox on Sunday.
The trade also includes two players to be named later heading to Chicago and one player to be named later heading to Boston .
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The Yankees initially selected Ziehl, a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher, in the fourth round (119th overall) out of Miami in the 2024 Draft. They signed him for $637,000 and then traded him to Chicago on July 30, 2025, for outfielder Austin Slater .
Baseball America had Ziehl ranked the White Sox ’ No. 21 overall prospect, two spots behind Jedixson Paez who Chicago selected from Boston in December’s Rule 5 Draft. It had him ranked the Yankees’ 13th overall prospect entering the 2025.
Ziehl posted a 4.12 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 90 strikeouts and 19 walks in 22 outings (21 starts) between Low-A, High-A and Double-A in 2025. Opponents batted .274 against him.
Only one of those outings came at Double-A. Sixteen were at Low-A and seven at High-A.
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Control and command are strengths. He has averaged just 1.6 walks per nine innings in the minors after averaging 2.6 in his 227⅔ innings at Miami.
The 6-foot, 223-pounder doesn’t throw hard and uses his fastball infrequently. Baseball America wrote that he “used his below-average 92 mph four-seamer just 13% of the time” in 2025.
BA grades his sweeper 55 (above average) on its 20-80 grading scale, his cutter 50 (major league average) and both his curveball and changeup 45 (fringe average). BA graded his fastball at 40 (below average).
His Baseball America scouting report notes , “Ziehl relies on his mid-80s sweeper and 89 mph cutter, throwing those two pitches nearly 70% of the time with near-even distribution. His sweeper has above-average spin rates and is his best swing-and-miss offering. He rounds out his arsenal with a fringy upper-80s changeup that needs more separation from his fastball and a downer 80 mph curveball that he throws the least but generated his highest miss rate in 2025.”
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Sandlin was Boston’s No. 11 overall prospect, according to Baseball America. The Red Sox had added him to the 40-man roster in November to protect him from Rule 5 Draft eligibility.
By including a top-10 caliber prospect in Sandlin, the Red Sox got the White Sox to take on $16 million of Hicks’ remaining two-year, $25 million contract.
Hicks is owed $12.5 million in each of the next two seasons; Chicago will be responsible for $8.5 million each season while the Red Sox will pay $4 million.
The Sox could afford to deal from their starting pitching depth and prospect pool because both are strengths.
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Sandlin was one of 14 starting pitchers on Boston’s 40-man roster.
The Red Sox also have six pitching prospects ( Payton Tolle , Connelly Early , Kyson Witherspoon , Juan Valera , Jake Bennett , Marcus Phillips ) ranked higher than Sandlin.
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