Henrique: Where the Red Sox stand through 3 turns in the starting rotation, reinforcements on the way

After three turns in the rotation, the Red Sox are close to getting a much-needed boost to their starting rotation. Last year's Opening Day starter, Brayan Bello completed another rehab start for the WooSox on Friday night.

The righty who has been on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain pitched four innings and allowed three runs (two unearned) on four hits with no walks while striking out five batters.

Bello threw 29 sinkers in the outing, watching the pitch top out at 97.8 mph. He threw 17 changeups, 15 sliders, and three four-seam heaters, according to Baseball Savant.

With his third rehab outing in the books, Bello said he feels “100 percent healthy” but will make one more rehab start, likely the middle of next week, and will not join the team in Tampa.

“Yeah, I felt good,” Bello told reporters via a translator after the game. “Obviously, a couple of pitches left up in the plate. But besides that, I felt very good, physically and mentally. Felt very good and was trying to do my best since the first pitch.”

The four innings he threw on Friday night marked the most he’s had in a game since beginning his rehab assignment earlier this month.

“I feel like I’m 100 percent healthy,” Bello said. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good. My pitches are good; I feel good mentally; I feel good physically. I’m excited about this.”

Bello may return to Boston soon, and the Red Sox will have another dependable starter. After Boston's ugly 11-1 loss at the hands of the lowly White Sox on Friday night, getting Bello back should help stabilize the rotation. 

ODD MAN OUT?

Left-handed starter Sean Newcomb wasn’t the main reason the Sox were embarrassed by Chicago, but he didn’t help matters, either. First baseman Triston Casas highlighted sloppy defense, which led to only two earned runs for the Mass native.

Newcomb threw 94 pitches over four frames, allowing six hits, and struck out six batters. Over his first three outings with Boston, the southpaw owns a 4.97 ERA and is the most likely candidate to be replaced in the rotation once Bello is set to return off the injured list.

If the Red Sox add Bello next week, they’ll be unable to option Newcomb. He will have to be designated for assignment, and the Sox will have to hope he clears waivers to outright him to Triple-A Worcester.

The Red Sox pitching staff ranks 17th in the league with a 3.96 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, which is 23rd in the majors. Last season, through the team’s first 14 games, the Red Sox recorded a 1.82 ERA, the performances haven’t carried over from last year to this year. 

STATE OF THE ROTATION THROUGH 3 TURNS

In his three starts in Boston, Garrett Crochet has performed as expected, boasting a 1.45 ERA, 17 strikeouts to seven walks, and a .206 batting average against opposing batters in 18 2/3 innings. He’s been Boston's best pitcher, as he should be, considering the club gave up four prospects for the potential of landing an ace left-hander.

Crochet hasn’t felt he’s shown his best stuff yet early on, calling his stuff “terrible” following his last outing against the Blue Jays during the homestand. The lefty pitched in 35-degree weather and threw a career-high 107 pitches coming off his eight-inning gem he threw against the Orioles two starts ago.

“There really hasn't been a start this year where I feel like I've had my best stuff. Hopefully that's because I'm building, and they're all going to come later in the year. But just not getting to the glove side very well with the four-seam or the cutter, a lot of over-correcting with the two and just yanking and not really driving it there.”

Crochet will face his former team in the series finale on Sunday, and despite that, he doesn’t feel sentimental about his return to the South Side of Chicago.

“For me, it was not very hard to move on, honestly,“ Crochet said to reporters in the visitors dugout on Friday. ”Especially with going to the Red Sox, such a storied franchise. I was excited, quite frankly, and I still am for what this team could accomplish this season."

Crochet completed his first year as a starter with the White Sox last season. He made 32 starts and recorded a 3.58 ERA while striking out 209 batters in 146 innings.

“It was great. I loved it,“ Crochet said of his White Sox tenure. ”The organization that drafts you, people say, typically treat you the best. So it was all I knew. But, being over here in Boston, the love has been the exact same."

Crochet’s 1.45 ERA is the best of the Sox’ starters while Tanner Houck and Walker Buehler have gotten off to slow starts to open the new season. 

Houck has started to bounce back on the mound after two rough starts. He worked 6 2/3 frames against the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, limiting damage on the base paths, allowing just one run off five hits. Houck struck out two batters and induced soft contact throughout his outing to keep Toronto’s offensive attack off-balance.

The 28-year-old's last outing was his first quality start since August 30. It’s only been three outings for the righty, but his lack of swing-and-miss is alarming. He’s recorded just a 5.51 K/9 with a 44.9% ground ball percentage over 16 1/3 innings.

Houck is coming off a year where he logged a career-high in starts with 30 and hurled 178 1/3 innings; he also broke down in the second half. His slow start in the spring and this season is a reason for concern.

The righty didn’t pitch particularly well in Grapefruit League action, striking out seven and walking five. Over the course of his young career, when Houck has seen challenges on the mound in the spring, they spilled into the regular season. It’s something to monitor.

Buehler had his best outing to date in the series with Toronto, looking incredibly sharp on the mound, throwing first-pitch strikes to 18 of 24 batters he faced, walking just one batter, and striking out seven..

The Sox’ righty got stronger throughout his outing, retiring 14 of the final 16 batters he faced. He had eight swings and misses, the most he’s had in his three starts.

“This is as good as I’ve felt,” Buehler said. “We put in a ton of work this week with everyone in the building about what we’re seeing and what we’re feeling, and it paid off.”

Buehler delivered an exceptional performance, turning in the second-best start from a Sox' starter this season. Crochet’s magnificent eight-inning start showed his brilliance and potential as an ace. 

Buehler’s start showed that good starting pitching is the ultimate key to the Red Sox' overall success this season. The righty’s 6 1/3 innings at Fenway Park was the longest start he’s made since he went seven innings against the Cubs three years ago.

“I think largely pre-surgery and non-playoffs — regular-season games — I think this is as good as I felt," said Buehler, whose previous two outings had seen him allow nine runs in 9 1/3 innings, allowing opponents a .350 batting average.

“We put in a ton of work this week with everyone in the building about what we’re seeing, what we’re feeling, and it paid off this week, and now it’s kind of rinse and repeat and hope it kind of stays in there. ... I just felt more violent than I have in a long time. That’s how I play when I’m good."

Buehler's emergence will significantly impact Boston, and if Houck can replicate his previous season's performance, the Sox could make a significant impact as May draws near.

The two-time World Series champion, who signed with Boston in the offseason on a one-year, $21.05 million deal, is hoping to rebuild his value with an impact season. He’s good and flashed his dominance on Thursday.

"This week was a big one for me, just in terms of workload because I’m trying to figure it out, and I’m kind of tired of sucking," Buehler said. "I kind of pushed my chips a little bit more on the table this week than I typically have."

Richard Fitts will make his third start for the Red Sox against the White Sox on Saturday afternoon. He’s coming off a decent outing on Monday night to open the series with the Blue Jays.

He went six innings and allowed just three runs. He became the third Red Sox pitcher in the last 18 seasons to pitch at least five innings in each of his first seven career starts.

Two homers and four walks forced him to pitch with runners on base. Fitts helped his cause by forcing two double plays, but 10 Jays reached base over his six innings of work.

In the past 20 years, Fitts is the only Red Sox pitcher to record a better ERA over his first six career starts since Houck (1.74 ERA).

The Red Sox will decide Fitts' fate after Lucas Giolito's minor league rehab. It makes the most sense to option him to Triple-A Worcester to keep him stretched out as a starter and on a normal pitching schedule. Boston’s rotation should consist of Crochet, Houck, Buehler, Bello, and Giolito, with the likes of Fitts, Hunter Dobbins, and Michael Fulmer ready in the minors if someone gets hurt or struggles and the Sox need a jolt in their pitching staff.

YOUNG PITCHING ON HORIZON

Speaking of Dobbins, he made his Major League debut and earned the win after giving the Red Sox five strong innings, where he allowed two runs off eight hits.

Dobbins called his MLB debut a “whirlwind” to reporters at Polar Park this week. “It’s what every kid dreams of, and it’s hard to put it into words, debuting anywhere, let alone making my (major league) debut on Sunday Night Baseball for the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

“It was just perfect.”

Dobbins has risen through the Red Sox system, cementing himself as a legitimate pitching prospect, which made it easier for the Sox to trade Quinn Priester to the Brewers earlier this week.

It’s been a long time since the Sox had a perceived surplus of pitching in their system. Priester presented that to Boston, and they cashed in high on the right with the Brewers in desperate need of quality pitching.

The Red Sox acquired outfield prospect Yophery Rodriguez, a Competitive Balance Round A pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, and a player to be named later or cash considerations. Boston will receive the Brewers' No. 33 overall pick that is worth about $2.7 million in slot value.

Priester made his Brewers debut on Thursday, pitching five strong innings, giving up one run on five hits while walking two and striking out four batters.

The Red Sox pitching pipeline is taking shape and has taken big steps in the year and a half under Craig Breslow, Andrew Bailey, and Justin Willard.

“It’s always a little bit uncomfortable to trade starting pitching depth, depth,”Breslow said after the Priester swap, “especially someone young with controllable upside. But last year, I think our system was so skewed toward position players that it would have been unthinkable (to do something like this in April of 2024).”

The Sox have other pitchers on the horizon, including Luis Perales, who arguably is the organization’s best pitching prospect. He’s coming off Tommy John surgery from last season and hasn’t seen game action yet.

David Sandlin is in Portland along with lefty Connelly Early, and they are both legitimate candidates to see a promotion to Triple-A Worcester this summer. Sandlin could take a similar path as Zach Penrod and slide out of the rotation and begin to pitch out of the bullpen to make his way to Boston. The righty boasts one of the system’s best fastballs, topping out at 100 mph. Juan Valera and Payton Tolle are lower-level pitchers to watch in the next wave of young talent.

“We can start to feel like we’re building a pipeline,” said Breslow, “that can replenish major league talent. But you’re not going to find somebody who sits in my chair and says, ‘I have enough starting pitching.’”

BACK TO THE SERIES WITH THE CHISOX

The young pitching is a valuable luxury for the Red Sox to have, but outside of Dobbins, they haven’t impacted the 26-man roster.

Boston needs to erase the 11-1 beatdown from the White Sox and get consistent starting pitching. It’ll start with the bats getting hot again and the defense doing the basics and stop committing mental errors, resulting in a sloppy on-field result.

Fitts must step up on Saturday to help correct the course and bring Boston back into the win column. In Fitts' six career starts, Boston has a record of 0-6. Then the Red Sox can turn to Crochet on Sunday, who’ll face his old team, in the hopes of taking two of three from the lowly White Sox.