Josh Winckowski, the No. 12 prospect in the Boston Red Sox organization according to Sox Prospects, made his major league debut Saturday. Despite only recording nine outs and giving up four earned runs in his first major league outing, Winckowski’s manager gave him a vote of confidence after the ball game.
“You can see the potential,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He’s a kid that we really like… Whatever the result is, we know he’s good, you know. The fastball command, use his secondary pitches and he’ll be ok. He’s a good one.”
Those words from Cora should help ease the stress of having earned a loss in his first major league start, but they won’t fully help Winckowski get over his performance.
“I normally throw a lot more strikes than that, but it is what it is,” Winckowski told NESN’s Jahmai Webster as seen on the networks postgame coverage. “It was still an awesome experience.
“Honestly, my personality, I’ll probably be pretty frustrated for a long time. Like I said, it’s still an awesome moment but, you know could have and should have went a lot different… It’ll be good to get back to Triple-A and just stay in the routine and keep working on things.”
Triple-A is where Winckowski is headed next, as his spot on Boston’s roster came as the 27th man afforded to big league clubs when they play a doubleheader.
The Red Sox will continue their series with the Baltimore Orioles Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET at Fenway Park. You can catch the game on NESN with pregame coverage beginning an hour before first pitch.
