What MLB Home Run Champion Saw In Former Red Sox Ace

BOSTON — David Price already pitched into his veteran status by the time he joined the Red Sox on a large free agent deal before the 2016 season.

The Red Sox knew that talent from an early age when the original Tampa Bays Rays phenom recorded the final four outs against Boston in Game 7 of the 2008 American League Championship Series. He won the Cy Young award in 2012, got traded to the Detroit Tigers in 2014 and re-entered the division in 2015 in a pennant race with the Toronto Blue Jays.

That’s where he teamed up with All-Star outfielder José Bautista on a rather loaded Toronto squad that took home the AL East crown. Price unlocked a new level down the stretch for the Blue Jays with a 9-1 record and a 2.30 ERA while striking out 10.5 batters per nine innings across 11 starts. He contributed in complimentary fashion while the capable Blue Jays lineup headlined by Bautista, Edwin Encarnación and Josh Donaldson went to work.

Price pitched like an ace during his short few months with Toronto and earned the respect of fellow All-Stars such as Bautista.

“He was a leader by example,” Bautista told NESN.com Friday at the Pedro Martinez Foundation gala. “He was a true workhorse until he unfortunately started having some arm issues. He was just a guy that was a bulldog and a fighter. He would go out there with his arm hanging by a thread and just giving it all he had. He made no excuses. He was in there working, getting his rehab, just preparing. He had a really good work ethic. Those were the things that impressed me the most about him.”

Those qualities clearly stood out to the Red Sox when then-president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski inked the left-hander to a seven-year contract for $217 million. Price reached his ultimate pinnacle with the Red Sox with a mission that long evaded him: pitching successfully in the postseason.

Price tossed six innings with nine strikeouts in the Game 5 clincher of the ALCS against the Houston Astros to send the Red Sox to the World Series in 2018. He delivered six more solid innings in his first World Series start at Fenway Park and dominated through seven-plus innings in the championship clincher against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He only pitched one more season with Boston, but he did what the Red Sox brought him in to do: lead the rotation and win a championship.

“If you want to go to battle with somebody, that’s one guy you want to pick,” Bautista said.

The Red Sox enter this offseason in a similar position in need of an ace. The arms talents are different nine years later, but searching for frontline qualities like Price presented can guide Boston to the right union with its next ace.