Tanner Houck’s Flexibility Helps Prepare Sox for Playoffs
Tanner Houck has been one of the bright spots for Red Sox pitching and should play a meaningful role in October if the team makes the wild card.
Hybrid relievers are the latest trend in MLB baseball. Teams are relying on multi-inning pitchers to provide length out of the bullpen. There was little surprise that when Chaim Bloom was hired as the Chief Baseball Officer for the Boston Red Sox, that elements of Tampa’s innovative solutions to baseball structure would coincide within the Red Sox organization. Hybridity is the name of the game for Tampa and now for the Boston Red Sox. The latest weapon for Alex Cora out of the bullpen—is Tanner Houck, whom many around baseball see as a right-handed clone of Red Sox ace lefty Chris Sale. Houck will play the most pivotal role for Boston during the stretch run as a piggyback reliever and determine how deep Boston goes in the playoffs.
The Red Sox have failed in recent history on developing homegrown starters. The last few starters the Red Sox organization developed did not stick with the team throughout their careers, including Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. Many hoped that Henry Owens would figure out his walk issues, but he did not last long in the MLB. Enter Tanner Houck as the latest homegrown starter for the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox front office must be hoping that Houck develops into a starting role that goes deep into ballgames.
Tanner Houck 2021 Statistics (through 9/20)
1 win, 4 losses
3.58 ERA in 77.1 innings
94 Strikeouts
1.16 WHIP
Houck impressed many throughout the league last year in his short stretch in the MLB and thought he was guaranteed a starting role. Houck spent a few starts in the Minor Leagues to work on developing a third pitch, his splitter, in addition to a biting two-seamer and sweeping slider. Houck has been reliable this year despite not winning many games for the Red Sox and losing his effectiveness the third time through the order. Now that Houck must face a hitter a maximum of 2 times out of the bullpen, Houck should shorten games for a Red Sox bullpen in need of dependability. In essence, the Red Sox are putting Houck’s short-term effectiveness to the test.
If healthy, the multi-inning combination of Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock helps shorten games for the Red Sox.
As the postseason gets closer, the number of innings teams need from each pitcher grows. By now, most bullpens are tired and need fresh arms to get them through the end of the season. Houck has only thrown about 60 MLB innings this year. Any team could use a reliever that can go multiple effective innings and the Red Sox have multiple in Houck and Garrett Whitlock. This nasty multi-inning combination should allow the Red Sox to take out their starting pitchers, if ineffective, and use either one as a bulk option. Teams that use their strengths to shore up weaknesses will have the most success in October.
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