Danny Kirwin reflects on Arizona Fall League experience
During the 2024 campaign, Red Sox prospect Danny Kirwin saw his stock rise with an impressive season in Salem. Over the last few weeks, he has made headlines and built on his success while pitching in the Arizona Fall League. Against some of the best prospects in the game, he showed why he has a bright future.
In 12.2 innings for the Solar Mesa Sox, Kirwin posted a 2.84 ERA and struck out 16 batters. The Pennsylvania native allowed only four earned runs and had good control. Due to his play, the Rider University product was named an AFL All-Star, which he did not take for granted.
“ It’s cool that I’m out here having success against these guys,” Kirwin said. “Going into this, I was confident in my stuff. Taking away that I can get these guys out is a confidence boost heading into next season.”
While Kirwin impressed in Arizona, the Red Sox were not surprised by his success. During the 2024 campaign, Kirwin posted a 3.63 ERA in Low-A while splitting time between the bullpen and rotation. He also struck out 69 batters and held opponents to a .211 batting average. Regardless of the situation, Kirwin was not an easy pitcher to face.
Although Kirwin has had to adjust to new surroundings over the last few weeks, he has had some familiar faces in Arizona in teammates such as Brooks Brannon, Connor Steinbaugh, and Caden Rose to lean on.
“ It was awesome,” said Kirwin. “ I also knew Cooper Adams before because I trained with him at Tread, so there were a couple of guys that I knew. It’s been great getting to know these guys. It made for a comfortable transition for the guys I didn’t know.”
During his time in Arizona, one of Kirwin’s goals was to build on his success from the regular season. That meant continuing to show excellent control and making adjustments between outings.
“ My goal was to walk as few guys as I can and just be in the zone,” Kirwin said. “Definitely try to PR-wise while I was out here, which I did, which was cool. Just try to pitch, get better in the zone early, and get batters out with two strikes. That’s stuff we look at in between outings and will do from here on out.”
With the AFL season over, Kirwin will focus on improving even more in 2025 as he moves closer to the majors.
