After making his Major League debut with four September starts in 2024, Richard Fitts will open the 2025 Major League season in the Boston Red Sox’s rotation.

The former Helena High School and Auburn standout will be on the mound for Boston against the Texas Rangers in the fourth game of the Red Sox’s season on March 30, manager Alex Cora announced on Friday.

Fitts had a 9-5 record for Boston’s Triple-A affiliate in Worcester, Massachusetts, last season when he joined the big-league club in September.

Fitts became the second Major League player to pitch at least five innings without allowing an earned run in each of his first three big-league games since earned runs became an official statistic in 1912.

Fitts pitched five innings in his fourth and final start of 2024, too, but the Toronto Blue Jays touched him for four runs after the right-hander had started his MLB career with 18.2 scoreless innings.

In spring training, Fitts has a 2.45 earned-run average and a 1-0 record in five Grapefruit League outings. In 14.2 innings, he has struck out 14 and yielded 13 hits and six walks.

“Stuff was great,” Cora said about Fitts after he threw 4.1 shutout innings against the Miami Marlins on March 14. “Strike throwing was good. You got to throw strikes. …

“Velo’s up. He was pitching at 96, 97 (Friday). He was very efficient. He was able to move the ball around and change speeds. He was efficient. He had to finish in the bullpen yesterday. That’s always a good sign in spring training. Right now, he’s been impressive. He did an amazing job in the offseason. He and his wife, they were in Boston since the first week of January. And just put the work in the weight room. Working with the pitching group, he’s put himself in a great position.”

Fitts worked on increasing his fastball velocity in the offseason.

“I tried to work on a lot of things, but really dove into our shoulder program,” Fitts said. “… I used to just attack guys with fastballs, and I loved it, but it may not have been the best idea. I’m moving up in the ranks, and I’m at the point now where I feel like I can have multiple plus pitches instead of just one. It’s really encouraging.”

Fitts fills an opening in the Red Sox rotation created by injuries. Pitchers Brayan Bello with a shoulder injury, Kutter Crawford with a knee injury and Lucas Giolito with a hamstring injury are sidelined for Boston.

The Red Sox will open the season on March 27 with Garrett Crochet on the mound against the Rangers. Tanner Houck will start Game 2 and Walker Buehler will start Game 3 for Boston before Fitts gets the ball.

After Helena won the AHSAA Class 6A baseball championship for 2017, Fitts struck out 102 and posted a 1.68 ERA in 2018, when the Huskies lost to Hazel Green in the state-championship series.

At Auburn, Fitts had a 6-6 record and a 5.23 ERA and one save in 40 games, with 14 starts. In 117 innings, he struck out 104 and walked 37.

The New York Yankees selected Fitts in the sixth round of the 2021 draft.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.