After the Boston Red Sox missed out on their biggest offensive target, Alex Bregman, over the offseason, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow committed to building a team that could prevent runs with elite pitching and defense. In the first few weeks of the season, neither the pitching nor the defense has gone to plan.
Red Sox starters have posted a 4.00 ERA after a scoreless outing by Ranger Suárez on April 11. Their relievers have had a bit more success, to the tune of a 3.76 ERA, which ranks 17th in the league. Soon, Boston may get relief reinforcements to up its run prevention in the late innings.
The Red Sox signed former New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers reliever Tommy Kahnle to a minor league deal in March. On April 7, he made his first appearance for the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox — He's allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks over 2.1 innings across two outings.
Kahnle was a staple out of the Tigers' bullpen last season, but may have struggled to sign this year because of his rough second half performance. He finished the season with a 4.43 ERA over 63 frames, but had a 1.77 ERA through June 29.
Tommy Kahnle's clean first outing, arsenal improvements are a great sign for Red Sox's bullpen
The righty has become famous for his elite changeup, which he threw a staggering 64 consecutive times last season with the Tigers. According to Matt Vautour of MassLive, the Red Sox are helping Kahnle tune up his arsenal around his changeup to keep hitters guessing.
Boston is trying to integrate a fastball back into Kahnle's list of offerings. He threw his changeup a staggering 85.6% of the time last year and used his fastball just 14% of the time.
“Guys are really starting to wait for the changeup to be up. I just want to be able to use the fastball more,” Kahnle said to Vautour. “I think it helps my changeup get back on track. Mix in some more sliders too."
The Red Sox may be extra motivated to fine-tune Kahnle's arsenal and get him to the major leagues quickly because he has an upward mobility clause on his contract. If Boston hasn't called Kahnle up by May 1, other interested big league teams will have the chance to offer him a contract, which the Red Sox will have a chance to match. Kahnle can opt-out of his contract on June 1 if he isn't promoted by that time.
If Kahnle keeps up his clean performances in Triple-A, the Red Sox could call him up to help the big league bullpen in due time. Boston has previously found success by helping struggling relievers fix their arsenals, and Kahnle could be the latest former Yankee the Red Sox bring back to relevance in the American League East.