On June 26, one of the newest pitchers in the Boston Red Sox organization made his Triple-A Worcester debut. Former San Francisco Giant Kyle Harrison started against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
The numbers are likely going to upset fans who only look at the box score. Harrison allowed four runs on eight hits in four innings. He struck out four batters and walked one. Those are not inspiring stats. Harrison pitched better than the numbers, though.
There are two key points to consider when making that argument. First, Harrison was reworking some of his pitches and adding others to his arsenal (most notably a cutter). It's expected that he would struggle a bit while changing his pitches around.
Second, the left-handed pitcher was severely limiting hard contact. Of his eight hits, three were "hard hit," meaning they came off the bat at 95 miles per hour or more. Two of the hits were between 80-89 miles per hour and the other three hits were under 80 miles per hour.
New Red Sox pitcher from Rafael Devers trade Kyle Harrison worked on repertoire in his WooSox debut
Even the two-run home run that Harrison allowed in the first inning only went 339 feet. It wasn't exactly demolished.
It's easy to get discouraged by the stats. However, this is why the Red Sox started Harrison in Triple-A. They want him to work on new pitches and iron out some issues with his current stuff. He's not far removed from being one of the best prospects in baseball. The 23-year-old has plenty of time to develop.
It was just one start, but the cutter absolutely looked like a pitch that Harrison could develop nicely. His fastball is already a plus, and adding a sinker will give hitters a ton of different angles to have to deal with.
The Red Sox are likely thrilled with this outing. He threw 76 pitches, 51 of which were strikes (67%) with 12 whiffs. That's a big positive. The soft contact is another huge success. Working in the cutter will only help him improve.
Fans have a right to be upset about the Rafael Devers trade, especially with how the big league team has performed since the move. But Harrison could be a big part of the rotation for a long time, though. And although the box score doesn't highlight it too well, his first start for the WooSox was a good one.