The Boston Red Sox’s No. 5 starter role is up for grabs, and it has to be awfully tempting to hand the keys to Payton Tolle.

At this time last year, the 22-year-old Tolle hadn’t thrown a pitch as a professional. Now, the second-round draft pick is tearing through the minors, having already earned two promotions and excelled in his first 15 innings at Triple-A.

When the Red Sox bumped veteran Walker Buehler from the rotation last week, Tolle’s name immediately came to mind as a potential replacement. As of Wednesday, they still haven’t replaced Buehler in the rotation, but they did make a formal announcement about Tolle’s next steps.

On Wednesday, the Worcester Red Sox announced Tolle as one of their scheduled pitchers for Friday, according to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. He’s slated to either start the game or piggyback off lefty Shane Drohan, who was recently activated from the 60-day injured list.

The announcement is made, but the situation could still take a number of different turns by Saturday’s first pitch between the Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates.

The other main option at Triple-A to pitch that Saturday game is Kyle Harrison, who came over in the Rafael Devers trade with the San Francisco Giants. Harrison was pulled after three innings on Tuesday, making him an option on three days’ rest in the big leagues for Saturday.

So to some, having Tolle announced for Friday might seem like a signal that Harrison is all but guaranteed to start. To others, the fact that they listed Tolle alongside another pitcher might signal that they want a backup plan in case they decide to call him up last-minute.

Tolle has 133 strikeouts this season in only 91 2/3 innings of work in the minors. He’s got the most electric stuff of anyone in the farm system, but only time will tell if the organization feels he’s ready to contribute to the playoff push.

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