The Boston Red Sox weren’t thinking much about Nathan Eovaldi’s future with the team when they acquired the pitcher from the Tampa Bay Rays in July.
The right-hander dazzled in his first two starts with Boston, combining for 15 scoreless innings, including eight against the New York Yankees. He then turned in one of the most heroic appearances during the World Series with a six-plus inning effort in the Red Sox’s 18-inning Game 3 marathon against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Eovaldi was rewarded with a four-year, $67.5 million contract this offseason, something that made Red Sox fans extremely happy.
His outings in the regular season and playoffs impressed many, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski revealed he never was expecting such “overpowering” performances.
“When we made that trade we were more short-term, let’s get through the season and see what takes place” Dombrowski said during an interview with MLB Network at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings. “And so you weren’t anticipating that type of performance. We thought he’d pitch well, but they way he stepped up and performed. Then his stuff that was overpowering at times.”
Eovaldi finished the World Series with a 1.13 ERA over eight innings in three appearances. He surrendered three hits, two runs and struck out eight.
