Former Red Sox RP #2: Adam Ottavino
If you’ve followed any of my work on this site over the last few years then you know I love an absolute lunatic. In fact, the final pitcher I chose for this falls in this category as well, but more on him later. Whether it be Dustin Pedroia in the field or Chris Sale coming out of the bullpen in the 2018 World Series, I love that kind of player.
After what we saw from him in 2021, I fully believe that Adam Ottavino falls into this category. Seriously, let’s just look at his history. Otto is a guy that said he’d smoke The Babe without even trying and also talked trash to uber nice guy Shohei Ohtani on his birthday.
The righty gets himself up big when the lights are shining bright and he’s a guy I want in our bullpen in 2022. He bounced back and forth with Matt Barnes in the second half as far as their roles were concerned but I like him in either the seventh or eighth inning primarily. The veteran righty has over a decade of service time in the league and with his history of ups and downs, he can be a solid mentor.
Ottavino has a heavy fastball/slider mix with his routine and actually used both pitches an even amount at 48.4% in 2021. He also has a cutter, change, and splitter but he knows what weapons are his best and leans on them heavily.
Normally I would prefer a more balanced pitch mix but when your one-two punches are as good as Otto’s it’s hard to argue against them. Boston more than has the budget for bringing him back, possibly in the $8-9M range.