Zach Penrod on Red Sox top catching prospect Kyle Teel: ‘It was almost like we clicked immediately’
Zach Penrod on Red Sox top catching prospect Kyle Teel: ‘It was almost like we clicked immediately’
The intimacy between a catcher and pitcher is a unique relationship unmatched by any two people in sports. Pitchers rely on their “battery mate” to develop a strategy when on the mound to attack opposing hitters in each appearance they make in the game.
To establish a relationship in which both players are comfortable with one another and on the same page takes time. Red Sox pitching prospect Zach Penrod and top catching prospect Kyle Teel clicked almost instantly together in the minors.
“It felt like we kind of clicked right away,” said Penrod on the To the Show We Go podcast. “He kind of got a sense of what I was trying to do. We had the pregame meeting, and we were talking about it and we were kind of getting on the same page. At the end of the first inning, it was almost like we clicked immediately, it was just he knew what I was trying to do to guys, we kind of got on the same page between innings and it was just we rolled, so it was really nice.”
Penrod burst onto the scene after signing with the organization this summer. Boston inked the left-hander out of Indy ball on Aug. 16, and he immediately shoved in four starts for Greenville down the stretch.
Penrod recorded a 2.18 ERA, yielding just five earned runs over 20 2/3 innings over four starts. He made two five inning appearances in the postseason, one start and one relief appearance.
The 26-year-old has been torching lineups in the Arizona Fall League, posting a 1.29 ERA over four starts. The Idaho native went from almost walking away from baseball to now being a potential Rule 5 draft candidate and he should see time with Double-A Portland next season. If he gets an opportunity in Portland, he’ll continue to grow his relationship with the catchers in the system and grow that bond he has with Teel and hopefully pitch to him in the bigs someday.
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