Red Sox southpaw a dark horse to land spot in rotation: 'He’s caught our eyes'
It’s always a feel-good story when a local kid has a chance to make the home team’s big league roster.
Left-handed pitcher Sean Newcomb is one of a handful of pitchers “in the hunt” for one of the Red Sox' final two spots in the rotation.
“He’s caught our eyes,” said Cora on Monday.
The Brockton native who pitched at Middleborough High School is competing with Richard Fitts, Quinn Priester, Cooper Criswell, and Michael Fulmer. Boston will have an idea who will win those two spots once the team wraps up their series in Mexico next week.
The chatter around the possibility Newcomb could break camp with the club came last week when Lucas Giolito injured his left hamstring in his first start back from internal brace surgery.
Newcomb, 31, has been solid this spring; he’s allowed just one run off five hits with three walks while striking out 10 in 9 2/3 innings. He’s posted a 0.93 ERA in four Grapefruit League outings; three of them have been starts.
“The goal (entering camp) was just to break with the big league team in any fashion, just help them get innings in any way,” Newcomb said Monday at JetBlue Park. “In an ideal world, obviously I like starting. It’s always kind of been my thing coming up and to start my big league career. It’s always where I had my success.
“It (the goal) was just to help the team in any way, and then I always just push for length because that’s where I’m able to use all my pitches and get rolling,” he added. “So it’s been a good little mix of that kind of stuff happening. But it wasn’t really any kind of plan or set goal. Just to help with the big team and help us in any way I can.”
The beauty about big league camp is anyone on the roster has a chance at the Opening Day roster. Newcomb is excited to have a chance to make the Red Sox roster.
“It feels good,” Newcomb said. “I’ve been putting it all together pretty well. Just great confidence with the mix and attacking the zone. Just seeing guys getting some uncomfortable swings and weak contact.”
If he doesn’t make the team, he will be assigned to Triple-A Worcester, where he can stay stretched out and pitch in their rotation. The lefty doesn’t have an MiLB opt-out clause in his contract.
“That’s part of it,” Newcomb said about the chance to remain with the Red Sox even if he didn’t make the Opening Day roster. “Like I said, just anything I can do to help the team. If it means going there to stay ready type of thing, that’s fine. It’s in Mass. So I’ll be able to be home either way. That’s kind of a plus. But obviously the goal is to be up there.”
Newcomb credits the Red Sox pitching group on his success this spring. They’ve helped add confidence in him with the shapes of his offspeed pitches, and his cutter has “made a difference,” Cora said.
“How to use them more, just in a different way,” he said. “Attacking the zone, really. It’s a cliché saying, but attacking the zone with everything. Just been building confidence with that.
“They got my cutter working a little bit more,” Newcomb said. “More of a little bit of a down angle vs. the more up cutter I had before. And then taking my big slider and making it more of the quote-unquote sweeper that people throw a lot nowadays. And those are both easier just to control in the zone. And then that mixed with the good fastball I’ve always had. And the curveball has been clicking, too.
“I feel like being able to throw the other breaking balls in the zone a lot helped my curveball, which was always my bread and butter with the four-seam/curveball mix that I had coming up,” he said.
David Sandlin shines in Futures Game
Since joining the Red Sox as part of the John Schreiber trade, David Sandlin has been one of the organization's most intriguing prospects. On Friday, he continued to showcase his potential as he overpowered some of the best hitters in the Twins system.