Red Sox pitcher Justin Hagenman 'surprised' by uptick in velocity on new pitch
While former Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom may no longer be around the Red Sox, his moves he made during his tenure are bringing positive spotlights to the major league and Triple-A clubs to begin the 2024 season.
One of those major spotlights is pitcher Justin Hagenman, who Bloom acquired at the trade deadline last season in one of his last trades with the Red Sox.
Hagenman came over from the Dodgers as a versatile arm that started games and came out of the bullpen in Oklahoma City. He recieved his first non-roster invite of his career to big league camp in spring training this year and hit the ground running.
“It was a pretty good camp,” Hagenman told Beyond the Monster. “I was happy to be in major league camp. Last year, I got moved over here and didn’t really know anyone besides the guys here in Worcester. I was meeting a lot of guys in Fort Myers that I had never even heard about before. Just camp in general was good and the games went well for me. I got off to a pretty good start and I kept it rolling. I felt good on the mound and felt comfortable up there. I did what I do best and tried to get as many quick outs as I could. It worked out pretty well.”
Hagenman saw his first action of the 2024 season on Sunday where he pitched three innings in relief for the WooSox in their win over Lehigh Valley. He picked up the win and only had to face nine batters over the three innings, which was the minimum number of batters to face.
His strikeout numbers were up during his stint in big league camp and he punched out two more on Sunday. He credits his new cutter in producing quite a few swings and misses.
“It was a new pitch last year, so we just upped the usage of it this spring and when we did that, it ticked up in velocity and it played better,” Hagenman said of his cutter. “I threw it more and more each game this spring and it played pretty well off my other pitches. I wasn’t fully expecting the swing and misses on it but once we got them, I thought it was working pretty well and had it dialed in pretty good.”
A pretty big topic of discussion this offseason has been the pitching minds added the organization. While Andrew Bailey certainly will have a huge impact on the major league club, it will be the other minds like Justin Willard who really will do wonders for the pitching development in the minors.
After seeing plenty of arms fade once they reached Worcester last year, it is refreshing to see guys like Hagenman accept the pitching structure and take a step forward with it.
“It is always good to have feedback from different people as long as you are open to him. Someone might say one thing and someone else might say something else. You can use both of those inputs at the same time. They have their metrics they are looking at and they share it with you. That was part of the reason the cutter usage was up, and it is paying off already.”
With the success the right-hander has already had at the Triple-A level as well as the success from major league spring training, the question starts to arise on just when Hagenman could get the call up to the MLB to make his debut.
He has started games, been used in multi-inning relief roles, and has even closed out games before. His usage has been all over during his minor league career, so just where does he settle in a potential Red Sox crowded bullpen?
“I think versatility has always been my game. There might be a stretch where things are going good for me and they need one inning later in the game, then I will be there. A lot of multi-innings and wherever the team needs me, and I am totally ready for it.”
