Tanner Houck to remain in the Red Sox rotation
As the Red Sox trim down their rotation back to five starters, Tanner Houck will not be one of the odd men out. Houck who has experience as both a starter and a reliever was a possible candidate to move to the bullpen.
The team instead optioned right-hander Brayan Bello to Triple-A on Worcester on Monday. The move opened the door to let Bello work on things in Worcester, while keeping Houck on a regular rotation with the team.
Boston added lefty Brennan Bernardino to the 40-man roster and he will be a fresh arm in an already taxed bullpen.
Houck has been one of the Red Sox consistent starters since the season has started. The right-hander has gone 3-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 26 innings over five starts.
While his latest start against the Orioles resulted in a loss, the Red Sox are confident in Houck’s ability no matter where he pitches.
“He has really excelled in every role he has been in,” said Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.
“He has done a great job and you can see him continuing to understand who he is and continuing to add things to his arsenal. We need to be really careful that we’re not making sweeping judgments based on single outings or even a few weeks or a month. There’s a bigger picture than that. Every pitch these guys throw shouldn’t turn into a referendum of their ability. But when you step back and look at where he’s at, the things he can do and the many different ways he can help us win, it’s really cool to see how he continues to develop,” added Bloom.
Prior to the start of spring training, Houck was told he would be stretched out as a starter. The Mizzou standout reaffirmed that while at Winter Weekend telling WEEI that he intends to win a spot in the Red Sox rotation.
Houck is getting the opportunity and seizing it while Bello is with the WooSox and James Paxton continues to rehab from his hamstring injury.
Boston will continue with Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock and Houck in the rotation for the time being. Things may change once Paxton is ready to be activated by the Red Sox in the coming weeks.
“We like this path. It’s so early in the season,” Bloom said. “We know you can never have enough starting pitching. While we appreciate that many of our guys can and do pitch in different roles, that’s not something you want to do just willy-nilly.”
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