Joe Boyle

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked Oakland Athletics #8 prospect in 2024
  BA Grade: 55/Extreme
  
  Track Record: Boyle burnished a reputation for premium stuff and extreme erraticism as an amateur that continued as a pro. So much so that Boyle’s 19.4% walk rate with Double-A Chattanooga in 2023 actually represented a subtle improvement. The ability to miss bats continued, though. The A’s took notice and acquired Boyle from the Reds for reliever Sam Moll in a no-fanfare deadline deal. Boyle’s strike-throwing drastically improved afterward. He made his MLB debut on Sept. 17 and posted a 1.69 ERA with 16 strikeouts over 15 innings in three starts.
  
  Scouting Report: The 6-foot-7 Boyle cuts a formidable mound presence and backs it up with two premium pitches. He attacks hitters with an elite fastball that touches triple-digits and sat at 97-98 mph in 2023. It’s a classic high-spin four-seamer thrown from an over-the-top release. His upper-80s slider may be even better and is his best putaway offering. He also showed the feel to spin a downer low-80s curveball that flashes plus, which he used more often in the minors. Boyle infrequently mixes in a low-90s cutter, and the A’s would like him to explore adding a changeup. He has historically shown bottom-of-the-scale command despite a relatively fluid delivery and clean arm action. He made no major mechanical adjustments after the trade, though the A’s noted he sometimes fights the timing of his delivery and his front side swings open early. They are optimistic he’s learning to trust his fastball in the zone.
  
  The Future: There’s a healthy amount of sample-size skepticism with Boyle’s drastic strike-throwing improvement, but the rebuilding A’s can let him continue to start. He has the floor of a high-leverage reliever and a chance for much more if everything coalesces.
  
  Scouting Grades Fastball: 70 | Curveball: 50 | Slider: 70 | Cutter: 45 | Control: 30
• 
  Ranked Cincinnati Reds #21 prospect in 2023
  BA Grade/Risk: 50/Extreme
  
  Track Record: Few pitchers have better stuff than Boyle, but even fewer have pitched as sparingly as he has. He threw just 36 innings in three years at Notre Dame because he walked 48 batters and hit five more. The Reds main focus was to get Boyle innings and get him comfortable finding the strike zone enough to let his exceptional stuff play. It worked in 2022. His 100 innings was more than he'd thrown in the previous four years combined. His .137 opponent batting average was easily the best in the minors among pitchers with 100 or more innings. He allowed 10 extra-base hits all year.
  
  Scouting Report: Boyle only sat 95-97 mph and touched 99 after touching 102 in the past which paid off in improved control. His fastball is a plus-plus pitch that can dominate, but it's his slider that should be his best pitch. Its success is dependent on its power. It has cutter-ish movement, but it sits in the high-80s and has been as hard as 92-93 mph. He also has a bigger high-70s fringe-average curve that he likes to flip over in early counts to steal a strike against hitters geared up for his fastball. Almost no one hit Boyle in Class A, but after his promotion to Double-A, he learned he had to mix his pitchers better.
  
  The Future: Boyle's control remains a 20 on the scouting scale, but it's actually taken massive strides forward. The trend is in the right direction, and it now seems feasible that he will eventually get to 30 or even 40 control. This would be enough for him to be a high-leverage reliever since he gives up so few hits.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Slider: 70. Curveball: 45. Control: 30.

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #101 prospect in 2020 draft
  Boyle’s stuff is up with any other arm in the 2020 class. His fastball sits in the 96-99 mph range, and he’s run his heater all the way up to 102 mph with a breaking ball that scouts have thrown double-plus grades on as well. He gets to all of his stuff with almost shocking ease, with some scouts saying he looks like an NBA player on the mound thanks to his 6-foot-7, 240-pound frame. Boyle can overwhelm his competition at times, getting tons of whiffs on his fastball up and around the zone and whiffs on breaking balls that will bounce significantly in front of the plate. What holds Boyle back, however, and might prevent him from going in the top two rounds of the draft is his well below-average control. In 36 innings over three years with Notre Dame, Boyle has walked 48 batters, good for 12 per nine innings of work. That rate is unsustainable at the next level, no matter how good his stuff is, but scouts have noted that his delivery and arm action aren’t nearly as bad as the quality of his strikes. That could be more of a concern for his future control, as there are no obvious mechanical fixes to implement to try and help him take a step forward. A team with multiple picks in the comp rounds could more easily take on the inherent risk with Boyle as a top 60-70 pick. If not he could go off the board near other top relievers in the third- or fourth-round range.

• February, 2023 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 50/Extreme
  
  Track Record: Few pitchers have better stuff than Boyle, but even fewer have pitched as sparingly as he has. He threw just 36 innings in three years at Notre Dame because he walked 48 batters and hit five more. The Reds main focus was to get Boyle innings and get him comfortable finding the strike zone enough to let his exceptional stuff play. It worked in 2022. His 100 innings was more than he'd thrown in the previous four years combined. His .137 opponent batting average was easily the best in the minors among pitchers with 100 or more innings. He allowed 10 extra-base hits all year.
  
  Scouting Report: Boyle only sat 95-97 mph and touched 99 after touching 102 in the past which paid off in improved control. His fastball is a plus-plus pitch that can dominate, but it's his slider that should be his best pitch. Its success is dependent on its power. It has cutter-ish movement, but it sits in the high-80s and has been as hard as 92-93 mph. He also has a bigger high-70s fringe-average curve that he likes to flip over in early counts to steal a strike against hitters geared up for his fastball. Almost no one hit Boyle in Class A, but after his promotion to Double-A, he learned he had to mix his pitchers better.
  
  The Future: Boyle's control remains a 20 on the scouting scale, but it's actually taken massive strides forward. The trend is in the right direction, and it now seems feasible that he will eventually get to 30 or even 40 control. This would be enough for him to be a high-leverage reliever since he gives up so few hits.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Slider: 70. Curveball: 45. Control: 30.
• December, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 50/Extreme
  
  Track Record: Few pitchers have better stuff than Boyle, but even fewer have pitched as sparingly as he has. He threw just 36 innings in three years at Notre Dame because he walked 48 batters and hit five more. The Reds main focus was to get Boyle innings and get him comfortable finding the strike zone enough to let his exceptional stuff play. It worked in 2022. His 100 innings was more than he'd thrown in the previous four years combined. His .137 opponent batting average was easily the best in the minors among pitchers with 100 or more innings. He allowed 10 extra-base hits all year.
  
  Scouting Report: Boyle only sat 95-97 mph and touched 99 after touching 102 in the past which paid off in improved control. His fastball is a plus-plus pitch that can dominate, but it's his slider that should be his best pitch. Its success is dependent on its power. It has cutter-ish movement, but it sits in the high-80s and has been as hard as 92-93 mph. He also has a bigger high-70s fringe-average curve that he likes to flip over in early counts to steal a strike against hitters geared up for his fastball. Almost no one hit Boyle in Class A, but after his promotion to Double-A, he learned he had to mix his pitchers better.
  
  The Future: Boyle's control remains a 20 on the scouting scale, but it's actually taken massive strides forward. The trend is in the right direction, and it now seems feasible that he will eventually get to 30 or even 40 control. This would be enough for him to be a high-leverage reliever since he gives up so few hits.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Slider: 70. Curveball: 45. Control: 30.
• April, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade: 50/Extreme
  
  Track Record:: Boyle&#39s combination of alluring stuff and inconsistent control and command saw him tantilize scouts (especially in the Cape Cod League), but also struggle to carve out a role at Notre Dame. He threw just 36 innings for the Fighting Irish, thanks to 48 walks. The Reds took a chance on his arm, and he immediately showed them one of the organization&#39s best fastballs, but also the shaky control.
  
  Scouting Report: Boyle has touched 101-102 mph in the past, but he&#39s settled into the upper 90s this year, topping out at 99. His fastball has proven unhittable for High-A hitters--after five starts they are hitting .046 against him. But his control remains a 20 on the 20-to-80 scale. He&#39s thrown strikes on only 55% of his pitches (MiLB average is 63%) and he walked 19 in his first 21 innings pitched. Boyle&#39s fastball gets swings and misses up in the zone and his slider will play as a power reliever. But as the Reds expected, they will need to get him to throw more strikes.
  
  The Future: Boyle has the stuff to at least be a power reliever, but only if his control improves by at least two grades. There are wild but effective relievers who walk a batter every other inning, but not ones who average a walk per inning.
• March, 2021 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: Boyle made just 32 appearances in three seasons with the Fighting Irish, largely because he walked 48 batters in 36 innings. Few pitchers with his resume get drafted, but fewer still throw as hard. In the 2019 Cape Cod League, he struck out 39 batters and posted a 2.14 ERA in 21 effective innings in front of packs of scouts.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Boyle is one of the hardest throwers in pro ball. He sits in the upper 90s, touched 102 mph in the Northwoods League in the summer after his freshman year and 101 mph when pitching on the Cape. Boyle's fastball doesn't have an elite movement profile, but he throws hard enough that if he's throwing strikes he's hard to square up. He scrapped his curve and switched to a plus-plus slider. He has a fringy changeup as well. If he can locate the fastball, his slider can finish off hitters, but he needs to greatly improve his control.
  
  THE FUTURE: The Reds will send Boyle out every fifth day with the hope that steady work will help him find the strike zone. Like many recent Reds draftees, he's high risk, but there are few pitchers with two 70s on their scouting report.