Tanner Houck tosses scoreless frames in spring debut; 'I was happy with the sinker, cutter and split'
Tanner Houck made his first spring training start on Monday against the Phillies from JetBlue Park. He retired all six batters he faced, recording three groundouts, one lineup, one fly out and one pop-put.
“I was happy with the sinker, cutter and split,” Houck said to reporters following his start. “Slider was a little iffy at times ... opening the front side with it. But all things considered, good outing. Keep building on that. I’m super happy with all the pitches, pitch shapes and everything at this point in the year.”
Houck is battling for a spot in the Red Sox rotation this spring. With the likes of Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Nick Pivetta penciled into Alex Cora’s rotation, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock, Josh Winckowski and Houck are attempting to secure the final two spots.
“Honestly make it a hard decision on them I think is what we can all do,” Houck said. “I think it’s the best thing we can do because it means we’re all pitching pretty well. So if that’s the case, I like where this team is at, for sure.”
There’s been competition for numerous spots on the Red Sox roster heading into camp. Cora told reporters at Winter Weekend the organization was going to challenge their young pitchers. If Boston is going to see any success in 2024 they will need Whitlock, Crawford, Houck and Bello to take a step forward.
“At the end of the day, the Whitlocks, the Crawfords, the Houcks, the Bellos, they have to take a step forward,” the Cora said at Winter Weekend. “Regardless of if you sign the best pitcher in the world, they need to take a step forward.”
Cora told reporters that he thinks Houck has gained the most velocity out of his starters.
“Not by design at all,” Houck said. “I think it’s just a factor of being fully healthy and back to my normal self. With that being said, having a good offseason of building a lot of strength definitely also helps with that. Also very small mechanical changes that I made coming into camp feel a lot better, feel a lot more directionally sound and more explosive toward home plate.”
The last two seasons haven’t gone to plan for Houck. His 2022 season ended with season-ending surgery. Last season, Houck was struck in the face by a line-drive comebacker in June against the Yankees. The line drive caused a facial fracture and Houck would require surgery and missed two months.
Overall, Houck finished the reason with a 6-10 record with a 5.01 ERA and 1.368 WHIP in 21 starts while racking up 99 strikeouts in 106 innings.
