Red Sox Pitching Prospects Still Confident Despite Marquee Additions

BOSTON — The Red Sox stayed busy this offseason, which wasn’t exactly helpful for those already in the system.

Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler, Patrick Sandoval, Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson were all brought aboard to provide immediate help across the starting rotation and bullpen. Boston is surely excited about that, but it does make things a tad more difficult for guys like Hunter Dobbins and David Sandlin.

Sandlin doesn’t seem to mind, though. He’s up for the challenge.

“I’m always going to be pushing for a spot,” Sandlin told NESN.com on Tuesday, speaking at Red Sox Rookie Development Camp. “We got some absolute dudes this offseason, which is on top of the dudes we already had. I’d be remiss if I didn’t go out there and give my best effort, though… I play a sport for a living, so I’m going to go out there and compete no matter what.”

Crochet and Buehler will have a domino effect on how things shake out across the rest of the organization, as they’ll join the likes of Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and perhaps even Kutter Crawford in the starting rotation. Richard Fitts, Quinn Priester, Cooper Criswell, Dobbins and Sandlin will primarily serve as depth options — mostly with Triple-A Worcester — but while they’ll be blocked from making a big-league impact early in the season, the organization is looking to keep them in a competitive state of mind.

“I think having goals — it doesn’t matter if you’re a reliever or a starter, we’ll have particular goals in place for these guys to work toward — is important,” Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham said. “It’s about understanding what your routine is, that it can be adjustable, it can be changed depending on what your role will be. We need to get hitters out, whether that’s for two innings or for five innings. We need to be able to throw strikes in the zone, challenge guys in the zone and get hitters out, at the end of the day.”

Dobbins, Sandlin and Zach Penrod are primarily starters, though opportunities to help the club will almost certainly open up by way of different roles.

“I’d prefer to be a starter, obviously,” Sandlin said. “… I want more time to go out there and support the team as a pitcher, but at the end of the day, I’ll do whatever the team wants me to do to help them win. I’m going to put my best foot forward, and I think I can tackle any obstacle you throw at me.”

“We build a lot of these guys up to be starters, but that’s because it’s just easier to pull them back versus add innings,” Abraham said. “… It’s best to just build them up to start. All of our relievers in the minors throw multiple innings, because very rarely are you getting called up to be a closer and throw one inning. We talk about versatility in the position player group, but it’s the same thing with the pitchers. You have them throw multiple innings and play multiple roles, and it opens up opportunities to make an impact (in Boston).”

It’ll be tough to crack the rotation in Boston, and that goes for guys who even have a good history of starting in the majors. Sandlin, Dobbins and plenty of others will eventually be presented with a chance to make an impact — whether it’s as a member of the rotation or the bullpen.

The Red Sox will just have to find space for all the talented arms currently floating around the system, which isn’t a bad problem to have.