How did Noah Song do in his first spring training appearance?
Red Sox minor league pitcher Noah Song jogged out of the bullpen and made his spring debut in the ninth inning on with his club up 3-2. Song was attempting to earn the save and most importantly begin his baseball journey again with the Red Sox.
After being drafted out of the Naval Academy in 2019, he had pitched in seven games in Boston’s system. Song made his return to the Red Sox organization last season after being drafted by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft.
On Tuesday afternoon, Song entered the ninth looking to slam the door on the Cardinals. The results were not what Song was looking for, struggling with his command.
The first pitch song threw was a 94 mph heater that the Cardinals’ Alec Burleson struck back up the middle for a base hit. Then the wheels came off, Pedro Pagés walked, followed by a wild pitch and another walk. Michael Siani flew out to center plating the tying run. Song was removed from the game and his first spring appearance was in the books.
“Definitely fun. My first time going into a spring training game with the team,” Song said.
The righty threw 24 pitches, only eight for strikes as he struggled with his command.
“The game got fast for him,” manager Alex Cora said following the game.
While the results were not what he was looking for on Tuesday, Cora told reporters there was plenty to like.
“His fastball had good carry,” Cora said. “I wanted to get him in there and we’ll do it again. It was good to get that first one out of the way. I told him when he came off that he would be fine.”
The Red Sox are going to ramp Song up to pitch multiple innings with the hopes to assign him to either Double-A or Triple-A once camp breaks.
The 26-year-old was once one of the Red Sox top pitching prospects but now projects more as a reliever. He will continue to work on the velocity of his pitches and work on his command of his entire arsenal.
Song was not overly satisfied with his results but as he returns to baseball, he is learning from all of his experiences.
“I always try to learn from every experience, whether it’s good or bad,” Song said. “I think the lessons are pretty apparent in this one. Command is something I’ve tried to pride myself on in the past and it’s something I’ve struggled with ever since I came back… So there’s a lot more I can focus on.”
