Red Sox have a potential relief pitcher gem already in house

Boston Red Sox prospect Durbin Feltman is setting the world on fire and could be the reliever they were trying to get at the deadline.

The July 31 non-wavier trade deadline has passed and the Boston Red Sox didn’t address their biggest need- a top end reliever.

Some might say Dave Dombrowski and the rest of the Boston Red Sox front office failed. Some would say not to change a thing because of the team’s overall performance thus far. Only time will tell, but a big-time 8th inning reliever to get to Craig Kimbrel would surely have been beneficial to the Red Sox’ success the rest of the way.

Though the Sox missed out on premier names like Zach Britton and Brad Hand, they have a dominant reliever of their own within their system currently. His name is Durbin Feltman.

Feltman has been on another level since being drafted 100th overall out of TCU. In just four games with Short-Season Lowell and seven games with Single-A Greenville, he carries a combined 1.64 ERA and a K/9 of 17.8!

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Feltman features a fastball, slider, and changeup repertoire. MLB.com has his fastball at a 70 grade– clocked as high as 99 mph. Feltman also adds a plus slider with depth and late life that he throws in the mid 80’s. His changeup is his third pitch that he uses primarily to keep hitters off-balance.

Scouts project him as a future closer, but things could get interesting if the Red Sox bullpen continues to struggle. Some people believe we could see Feltman setting up Kimbrel in Boston as early as this season.

While this may seem far-fetched, it shouldn’t. Feltman was just drafted this year; yes, but he’s climbing through the system at a rapid pace and has just been called up to High-A Salem.

In 2014, Brandon Finnegan was pitching in a World Series for the Royals the same year he was selected. If Feltman keeps performing at a high level, we could be saying the same thing about him in a couple of months.

I’m not here to pencil Feltman into the playoff roster. But I do think if his dominance continues, Dombrowski and company should be talking about the 21-year old as someone who can contribute to a pennant race in 2018.