Tyler Thornburg could emerge as the Red Sox closer in 2019
By Quinn Allen
Thornburg tossed just 24 innings in 2018 after recovering from shoulder surgery. But the righty enjoyed several productive seasons with the Brewers a couple years ago before coming over to the Red Sox in the Travis Shaw trade.
It’s a name that most Red Sox fans aren’t too familiar with, considering Tyler Thornburg was still recovering from shoulder surgery last season and was not really a huge part of their pitching staff. Acquired by the Sox in the Travis Shaw trade back in the tail end of 2016, he went on the shelf immediately and missed all of 2017 with Boston. He then missed 2018 spring training as he was still rehabbing, then spent time in the minors and the big leagues last year once he was healthy.
Now Thornburg is 100 percent and ready to prove that he can contribute to this team on a nightly basis out of the bullpen. The hard-throwing righty has a career 3.14 ERA, spending the majority of his big league career with the Brewers from 2012-16. His best season came in 2016 when Thornburg captured 13 saves and had a 2.15 ERA. The righty also struck out an impressive 90 hitters in just 67 innings that season, which calculates to 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
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He’s shown the potential to be a strikeout guy, which is huge when it comes to being a closer. That 13 saves in ’16 were the most he’s had in a single season. With Craig Kimbrel‘s future up in the air and the Red Sox lacking a closer for 2019, could Thornburg emerge as a candidate for the ninth inning role? He’s certainly got the quality stuff for it.
Thornburg as Red Sox closer or set-up man
Thornburg is smaller in stature, much like Kimbrel. He’s just 5 foot 11 and 190 pounds, but in a late-inning relief role, he’s got an electric fastball. It usually sits between 94 and 97 with life, but not a lot of movement given his over the top delivery. He primarily relies on his 12-6 curveball that hovers around 80 mph as his main off-speed pitch.
Now there is still a possibility that Kimbrel re-signs with the Red Sox, considering he hasn’t really received many other offers and we’re only a month away from spring training. If this is the case, obviously he would be Boston’s ninth-inning guy once again because he is one of the better closers in the game.
So Thornburg could even emerge as the set-up man, where he could come in for an inning and just dominate as he did back in 2016 with Milwaukee. He’s shown that he’s got good enough stuff to be effective and get outs. It’s just been the health that has sent him on a downward spiral the last couple of years.
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Now, it’s time to prove himself. Spring training will be huge for Tyler Thornburg. This will be an opportunity to prove that he is the same pitcher he was in 2016 and show Alex Cora that he deserves to be a key part of this bullpen in 2019. Whether he emerges as the closer or set-up man, this will be a very big year for Thornburg as he looks to contribute to what the Red Sox hope is another World Series-winning season.