Connelly Early

Todd Connelly McNeil Early is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. He made his MLB debut in 2025.

Amateur career

Early attended James River High School in Midlothian, Virginia, and played college baseball at the United States Military Academy and the University of Virginia.

Professional career

Early was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the fifth round, with the 151st overall selection, of the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the team and made his professional debut with the Single-A Salem Red Sox. He split the 2024 with campaign between the High-A Greenville Drive and Double-A Portland Sea Dogs.
Early began the 2025 season with Portland, and received a promotion to the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox. In 21 appearances split between the two affiliates, he accumulated a 10–3 record and 2.60 ERA with 132 strikeouts across innings pitched.
On September 9, 2025, Early was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time; he made his MLB debut that day. Starting against the Athletics, he struck out 11 batters in five innings pitched. That tied a record for strikeouts in a Red Sox rookie debut, set by Don Aase in 1977. On October 2, Early started the deciding game 3 of the American League Wild Card series against the New York Yankees. He allowed three earned runs over 3.2 innings with six strikeouts and one walk, as the Yankees won the game 4-0.