McAdam: Red Sox set to give Tanner Houck a shot at reversing organization's long developmental drought

The general managers -- or similarly-titled executives -- change. The managers change. The pitching coaches, too.

But one thing remains the same with the Red Sox: Not since Clay Buchholz have they drafted/signed and developed a homegrown starting pitcher of merit.

Two years ago, Jalen Beeks got one start before later that summer being traded for Nathan Eovaldi.

Already this season, Kyle Hart got a chance to break through. It did not go well. In three starts and one relief appearance, Hart combined to pitch 11 innings while allowing 24 hits and posting an ERA of 15.55 and a WHIP of 3.091.

Next?

Next, actually, is Tanner Houck, who will make his major league debut Tuesday in Miami when the Red Sox begin a series with the Marlins.

The organization's first-round pick in the 2017 draft, Houck has enjoyed modest success in the minors. He doesn't crack anyone's Top 100 prospects list. Even within the Red Sox' developmental system, he barely makes the Top 10 as designated by MLB.com's MLBPipeline.

As recently as late last summer, the Red Sox began working him out of the bullpen to see if he might be able to contribute to the big league club in relief over the final month. Ultimately, he didn't get promoted when rosters expanded last September.

Over the course of his pro career, the Sox have tinkered with both his pitch mix and his delivery, having him shift in 2018 from a sinker-slider repertoire to one that featured more four-seam fastballs and curve, while also trying to have him change his arm slot a bit.

Now, however, Houck is back to a low three-quarters delivery, and again relies heavily on his two-seamer and a sweeping slider. Importantly, he's ditched his changeup in favor of a splitter to attack lefties, who have sometimes hit him hard in the minors.

Houck has been with the team as part of its traveling taxi squad since the road trip began last Tuesday in Philadelphia and only Sunday morning, when he was approached on the field at Tropicana Field, was he informed by manager Ron Roenicke that he would be added to the major league roster Tuesday and given the ball.

"Definitely excited,'' he said. "It's been a dream of mine ever since I've been playing baseball. Finally getting the call to make my debut and get that start, I'm truly honored and very excited as well. It's something I've worked my whole life for, so I guess it's a dream come true.

"In the moment, I was definitely a little shocked. I just had to pause for a moment and realize what just happened.''



Like every other prospect in the upper levels of an organization, Houck has spent most of the summer at the alternate training site, taking part in simulated games and other organized drills. The lack of actual minor league games hasn't been a negative.

"It's actually been kind of beneficial for me,'' he maintained, "because you can just hone in on developing your craft. There's one thing that we really focused down in Pawtucket and it's been the biggest thing. It's been like, 'This is the one thing we're going to work on.' We're not actually working in a game situation every five days or whatever it would be.

"It's been really nice to just be able to go out there and actually develop and whenever we were in the sim game situations, just being able to continue to work on what I've been working on the bullpen and trying to execute that.''

That "one thing'' that has been a point of emphasis for the alternate site staff has been improving Houck's approach to left-handed hitters. At times, with the freedom to tailor situations for specific personnel, Houck would face lefty after lefty.

And if practice hasn't yet made perfect, the repetitions have served to make Houck feel better about his approach.

"I definitely feel more confident against lefties,'' he said. "I've added a new weapon with the slipper. I ditched my changeup a couple of months ago. One day, they were like, 'Here's the numbers - your split plays way better, to righties and lefties.' So it just kind of opened up a new avenue, getting out lefties. It kind of just felt natural right out of the gate. We ultimately decided that the split was truly the better option.

"Adding the split was, I think, the missing part.''

Houck isn't unaware of the organization's spotty track record when it comes to getting starting pitchers to the big leagues.

"I do know a little bit about that,'' he confessed, but insists that he's been the recipient of quality coaching and instruction. "But I wasn't worried about it all.''

Just being around the major league roster for the past week has served to acclimate him to the major leagues and he's attempted to soak up what he can.

"It's definitely nice being around some guys who have been here for an extended period of time,'' he said. "Being around a guy like Eovaldi is a really great learning process. During spring training, being around (Chris) Sale was another great thing to have. They're mentors in a way. They've been in my shoes before and they're some of the best pitchers in the game. Getting to learn from them has been a true honor.''

Tuesday will bring with it a flood of emotions and excitement, but Houck plans to attempt to treat it like any other game.

"It's still the same game,'' he said. "It's still 60 feet, six inches to home plate and I just have to execute my game plan. If I do that, I'm really confident.''