Hours after selecting one of the top college position players in the draft, the Red Sox used their second-round pick to address their pitching depth, selecting TCU left-hander Payton Tolle at No. 50 overall.

Tolle becomes Boston’s highest selected pitcher since Tanner Houck was taken No. 24 overall in the 2017 MLB Draft.

Standing at 6-foot-6, 250 pounds, the hulking 21-year-old was a two-way standout at Wichita State before transferring to TCU this past spring as a junior. Though the left-hander struggled at the plate, he thrived on the mound and earned Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honors after striking out 125 batters with a 3.21 ERA in 81.1 innings.

Red Sox director of amateur scouting Devin Pearson said the club plans to develop Tolle exclusively as a pitcher, and that they’ve had their eye on Tolle for years.

“Can’t say enough good things about Payton. As a pitcher he’s really talented and he has some elite traits that we’re ready to work with, but even moreso as a person,” Pearson said. “I think getting to interact with him at the combine just felt like somebody that could come into our organization and make our training environments, improve, and work his tail off to become the best version of himself, and we’re just thrilled to have him in our uniform.”

In terms of his traits as a pitcher, Pearson described Tolle as having a fastball ranging from 90 to 96 mph and that he has a wide variety of other weapons, including a slider, cutter, changeup and curveball. Thanks to his sheer size Tolle’s release point is also much closer to the plate than most pitchers, which Pearson said is among his most desirable qualities.

“The unique traits for him are the far above average extension, his strikes, his ability to spin the slider,” Pearson said. “He does a lot of things that we can work with and get to his optimal shapes, but mainly it’s his extension and how his fastball moves.”

As far as whether Tolle’s selection says anything about the club’s draft philosophy or an increased emphasis on pitching, Pearson said they viewed Tolle as the best player on the board who happened to be a pitcher, but also that they feel more comfortable evaluating what kind of pitchers would be a good fit with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s new pitching infrastructure in place.

The Red Sox are expected to make eight more selections on Day 2 of the MLB Draft on Monday, and 20 total selections by the draft’s conclusion on Tuesday.