FORT MYERS, Fla. – Red Sox spring coaching video games start at JetBlue Park on Friday, and Alex Cora isn’t losing any time getting his Major League arms on the mound.
On Friday, when the Sox host Northeastern University for his or her annual exhibition contest, “a bunch of relievers” will face the school children, Cora mentioned.
Garrett Whitlock will make the primary begin of the official video games on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. when the Sox head to the Baltimore Orioles’ spring coaching complicated.
Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito, every of whom threw two innings of stay batting apply on Tuesday, are candidates to begin on Sunday or Monday, adopted by Nick Pivetta, who will pitch in opposition to his former group, the Phillies, on Tuesday.
Pivetta and Tanner Houck every threw two up-down innings of stay BP on Wednesday, and earned rave critiques from their supervisor.
“Tanner was really good today,” Cora mentioned. “Velocity was very up there, good action on slider.”
“Nick, the fastball was hopping,” the skipper added. “For the first up-and-down, it was really good.”
Velocity has elevated this 12 months, usually, as has the dimensions of the pitchers doing the throwing. Cora spoke about it whereas discussing Justin Slaten, a brand new member of the 40-man roster who’s preventing for a spot on the Opening Day squad.
“Velocity, movement, obviously you gotta make sure he throws that over the heart of the plate, but so far so good,” Cora mentioned of Slaten. “Big boy, good stuff.”
“If you look around, I think we’re a little bit bigger in that department this year,” he added. “Lots of large our bodies, a whole lot of large dudes, and nasty stuff, so we simply gotta be certain that we throw that nasty stuff over the guts of the plate, and take our possibilities.
“Decision-making at 97, 98 (mph) is a lot more difficult than at 90, 91, and last year, we had no velo,” Cora defined. “We had some nasty pitches, right? Good sliders, cutters, and all that, but velocity wasn’t a part of our repertoire, and this year, it’s gonna be a little bit different.”
Several pitchers have additionally improved from working with veteran catcher Roberto Pérez, who’s imparting knowledge whereas rehabbing from shoulder surgical procedure.
“They’re very pleased, they like him, the feedback was really good,” Cora mentioned after Pérez labored with Pivetta and Houck.
“He comes from a great pitching program,” he lauded, “and they did an outstanding job, and he was a big part of it. He’s won a Gold Glove before, or two.”
Back-to-back Gold Gloves, actually, with Cleveland in ‘20 and ‘21.
“The main thing with him, and why people, teams keep calling him, is because of what he can do behind the plate,” the skipper added.
As for the Opening Day starter, it’s nonetheless too early for him to call names. Earlier within the week, he joked about tabbing Chris Sale for the job, solely to see him traded to the Atlanta Braves.
However, Cora did make it some extent to say that increase Brayan Bello is a precedence for the start of the season. “The goal here is to get him ready to pitch in the big leagues, to pitch in the regular season as soon as possible,” he mentioned.
Asked if that meant Opening Day, all of the supervisor would say was, “To pitch in the big leagues as soon as possible.”
An entire participant
Wilyer Abreu additionally acquired some excessive reward from Cora on Wednesday.
As the rookie outfielder competes for a roster spot, his supervisor needs him to, “Just keep doing the things that he did last year.”
“He’s a good player,” Cora mentioned. “He’s a good defender, puts good at-bats, hits the ball hard, he runs the bases well. He’s a complete player.”
The Red Sox acquired Abreu on the ’22 commerce deadline, once they dealt Christian Vázquez to the Houston Astros. Cora raved about Abreu final spring coaching, too. He debuted on August 22, and picked up 24 hits, together with six doubles and two dwelling runs, in 28 video games.
They see him enjoying right-field. “His arm plays, his actions,” the skipper defined, “I mean, this guy’s really good.”
Overall, Cora believes the Sox outfielder crew is “more athletic than last year, so we can move guys around.”
“The guys that we have, they’re gonna go get ‘em: Tyler (O’Neill), he’s won a Gold Glove, he’s very quick, he reads,” he mentioned, “and then Abreu, we’ll see what the future holds, but we’re comfortable with him playing right field.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com