WooSox Manager Chad Tracy talks about Brennan Bernardino’s role in bullpen
The Red Sox claimed Brennan Bernardino off waivers on April 16th from the Seattle Mariners. The left-hander pitched in 11 games for Boston and carried a 3.65 ERA.
So, why the demotion?
Over his last five appearances for the Red Sox, Bernardino allowed 8 hits and 5 earned runs over 5.1 innings. Compare that to his first six outings where he allowed 6 hits and 0 earned runs over 7 innings. The change of production and the activation of Joely Rodriguez left Bernardino the odd man out.
The lefty is a welcome addition to the WooSox bullpen.
The WooSox have had a handful of guys in the bullpen this year with major league experience, and now Bernardino gives them another.
“I think we will try to find opportunities against left-handed hitters when we can.” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said about how he envisions using Bernardino.
“I also think he has the stuff to pitch to righties too.” Tracy added. “One of the things he is working on is his changeup. The big league club liked it a lot, so if he can use this, he can get righties out.”
The changeup isn’t a new pitch for the 31-year-old, so it seems the demotion is a golden opportunity to work on his secondary pitch to climb back into the majors with a more polished pitch he can attack hitters from both sides of the plate with.
“He has the ability to go one plus or multiple innings.” Tracy said. “I think you will see times where we use him for a stretch of lefties, and other times where we use him for multiple innings where he has some righties.”
We have seen Tracy deploy many of the relivers in multi-inning roles this season, as he has mentioned numerous times that he wants to put the guys in spots where they are comfortable with what they will have to face once they are pitching at the MLB level.
“He throws strikes too” Tracy noted. “He can be used in a couple different ways, and we will try to use him in ways that we feel like he will be used in the majors when he gets called up.”
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