One of the goals for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was to improve the Red Sox's pitching staff, and Andrew Bailey arguably has been the biggest reason why the group started off the season strongly.
Boston leads MLB with a 2.61 ERA heading into its matchup against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Tuesday. The Red Sox also are first in shoutouts and third in WHIP. Tanner Houck has been the face of the improvements of the pitching staff, and his breakout season helped him develop a new mindset whenever he steps onto the mound.
Bailey joined NESN's Tom Caron and The Boston Globe's Alex Speier on the "310 To Left" podcast to give insight on the right-hander's changed play.
"It means a lot. It means he's in a really good headspace," Bailey told Caron and Speier. "We want our guys externally focused as much as possible, focusing on the big box: The strike zone. When we have internal thoughts creep in, the command and execution can kind of suffer and self-doubt. We want our guys competing in-game. We want our guys externally focused as possible. With Tanner specifically, he's so unique. The way that he throws, we want him to kind of tap into that outlier movement that he's got. That's what separates him and really his label as a big-league pitcher. Relentlessly attacking the zone with his pitch types is the goal. He loves to talk about just playing catch. And I'm really proud of the work that he put in. ..."
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The Red Sox pitching coach added that the changes made were simple and noted how "pitching should be boring." Houck hopes to continue his impressive start going after recording a 1.99 ERA and 2.06 FIP in seven starts.
Hear more from Caron and Speier's conversation with Bailey in the video above.
Featured image via Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports Images
