Grant Gambrell talks working on sinker with new Red Sox pitching minds; confidence in catching tandem
It was a cold but very successful opening weekend for the Worcester Red Sox as they opened the road against Lehigh Valley.
The starting rotation only allowed two runs over their three starts to open their 2024 season. They ended up taking 2 out of 3 games against the Iron Pigs largely in part to the stellar outings from the rotation.
Grant Gambrell took the ball for the season opener last Friday and threw four scoreless innings while punching out seven batters. While the right-hander mentioned it was '“a real cold one”, he was honored to be the opening day guy picked to pitch.
“I am never a finger licker, but it was so cold I had to lick my fingers and use bubble gum to try to get a little bit of tack because there was no moisture in the air.” Gambrell told Beyond the Monster on Tuesday. “I was trying to do as much as possible just to find a little bit of grip whenever possible.”
The 26-year-old produced 14 swings and misses in route to the scoreless outing on Friday, with his sweeper and sinking working well off each other.
“It is the same arsenal as last year but I am trying to use the four-seam a little more this year just so people don’t only sit on the sinker.” Gambrell said. “It just gives them something else to change their eye levels with. I just pitch my game and fill up the zone. I have a really good defense and good catchers that are here so I trust them to make the plays when they come and I will do my job to throw strikes and keep the hitters off balance.”
“I pride myself on throwing strikes.” Gambrell added. “Throwing strikes and getting swings are what I pride myself on. I don’t really rely on the umpire to call my game. I am going to pound the zone and throw my game and trust the defense behind me.”
A big topic of discussion this spring and into the early season has been the pitching infrastructure that has been put in place in the organization. Gambrell got plenty of time with Justin Willard and company this spring and it seemed to have made a difference.
“For me it was primarily working on my sinker with the new pitching minds.” Gambrell said. “Instead of getting more run, they wanted more depth on it. Just switching grips around and I have come across one that works very well. It is way different than the one I threw last year, and it has been working really well. Hopefully if I can get some grip on the ball, we will be doing just fine this week.”
There are no returning catchers from last season on the WooSox roster in 2024. Last year’s group featured Caleb Hamilton, Ronaldo Hernandez, Jorge Alfaro, and Stephen Scott. Hamilton was the only defensive first catcher on that roster a year ago.
Fast forward to this year, the WooSox have Tyler Heineman, Mark Kolozsvary, and Nathan Hickey at the position. Two of the three are defensive first catchers and Gambrell and others on the staff have a lot of familiarity with Hickey from their time in the minors.
“I have been grateful to pitch to Hickey for the past year and half and he has been really good for me. He calls an outstanding game. That was the first time Heineman has caught me on Friday, so we are just going to have to get on the same page. He is really good back there. I just have to trust him which will be easy to do since he has seen a lot of different arms and a lot of different pitches.”
