Craig Breslow Building ‘Pitching Development Infrastructure’ With Red Sox

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Craig Breslow’s expected impact goes beyond the normal responsibilities of the chief baseball officer for the Boston Red Sox.

After serving as the director of pitching with the Chicago Cubs, Breslow also had a vision to build a better system of developing that area of Boston’s organization.

So far, hires such as pitching coach Andrew Bailey, director of pitching Justin Willard and the recent addition of Driveline Baseball founder Kyle Boddy as an advisor have helped create a new vision for the Red Sox pitching staff.

“One of the things I intended to address early on was building out a pitching development infrastructure,” Breslow told reporters on Friday night at Red Sox Winter Weekend. “It started with the hiring of Andrew Bailey and Justin Willard and now another important addition in Kyle (Boddy). We’ve brought in a collection of really bright, thoughtful, intentional pitching minds. I’m really confident in their ability to work together to impact our players.”

That new pitching brain trust has several players to work with to improve a staff, particularly among Red Sox starting pitchers that finished with the fourth-fewest innings in the majors in 2023. Several young arms in Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Luis Perales, Wikelman Gonzalez, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck provide the internal group to work forward with for the new pitching philosophy of the Red Sox.

“There’s so much uncertainty around the development of pitchers, especially the development of starting pitchers,” Breslow added. “I think there’s a ton of alignment from me through that group. One thing as I saw those guys this week that I can say is that they’re physically imposing. There’s some real raw ingredients that we’re looking to harness. The chance for them to get on the mound in front of the staff is really encouraging. There’s been a ton of positive feedback.”

With work to do after three last-place finishes in four seasons, the Red Sox look to transform the future of pitching within the organization.