It was love, specifically, that Ira Gershwin had in mind when he wrote the lyrics to “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” but it’s not hard to imagine that the sentiment holds for Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops as well. That’s not to say that it’s not without its pressures — sometimes, for instance, the musicians don’t see the sheet music they’ll be performing for upward of 2,000 people until hours before showtime. But on Friday’s spring season opener, the Pops filled Symphony Hall with the music of George Gershwin before turning things over to Harry Connick Jr. Asking for anything more would seem churlish.
Keith Lockhart conducts the Boston Pops’ opening performance of the spring season Friday at Symphony Hall.Robert Torres
With much of the season devoted to the centenary of “Rhapsody in Blue,” the Pops set the stage with an all-Gershwin program for the concert’s first half. With loose, snappy trombones and strings covering the titular melody, the opening “Nice Work If You Can Get It” medley included a more stately “Someone to Watch Over Me” before ending with a “‘S Wonderful” that came complete with horsey-clop percussion. Next came “Three Preludes,” which was variously agitated and galumphing, flowing and scampering, with parts of the midsection anticipating “An American in Paris.” And the playful, tiptoe syncopation of “Fascinating Rhythm” incorporated bits of “Rhapsody” and “I Got Rhythm” while giving the drummer ample opportunity to swing.
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For “Rhapsody” itself, Charlie Albright attacked his piano with hungry speed, more like a hotshot jazz pianist than a classical player. He took ample advantage of the free time of his solo sections, teasing out some passages and charging heedlessly through others; his quick crumpling of the ending notes of one passage garnered a laugh from the audience. And Albright’s choice of encore — a careening “Great Balls of Fire” — showed that Jerry Lee Lewis wasn’t miles off from “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Harry Connick Jr. performs with the Boston Pops during opening night of the Pops’ the spring season at Symphony Hall.Robert Torres
Preceded by the swinging sandstorm of Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” Connick played a mix of standards (like “It Had to Be You” and “The Way You Look Tonight”) and jazzier New Orleans fare. The bluesy, blocky “Tico-Tico No Fubá” rode on the blunt stabs at his piano, while “Doctor Jazz” gradually grew into a lightly rollicking Dixieland number, with his whole band soloing at once to create a loose, joyous cacophony. And the Pops accompanied his “September Song” with all purple twilight hues, deepening the sorrow running through Connick’s vocals.
It was a shame, then, that Connick himself was a stiff and low-energy performer, standing largely motionless and singing with a heavy-ish vibrato but not much feeling. It turned the peripatetic float of “Lost in the Stars” inert and made his piano solo on the jauntier “I Concentrate on You” sound like fumbling, even without playing a wrong note. But with genial stage banter and a killer septet that infused “Come By Me” with gospel flair and “Bourbon Street Parade” with Big Easy swing, Connick kept the bar reasonably high, even if he was holding it up from underneath.
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Marc Hirsh can be reached at officialmarc@gmail.com or on Bluesky @spacecitymarc.bsky.social.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Over the past few years the Red Sox pitching program has been completely transformed.
Since Craig Breslow took over as chief baseball officer, the Red Sox have gone from one of the worst organizations at developing young pitchers to one of the best, and now the club is overflowing with talented arms who are already making their mark in the majors.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed, and this past offseason one of the people most responsible for executing the club’s turnaround — former director of pitching Justin Willard — was hired away by the New York Mets to be their new major league pitching coach.
Now the Red Sox are handing the baton to two others, who they hope can keep the train rolling and ensure the club’s pitching pipeline keeps flowing.
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This winter the Red Sox promoted Ben Buck to succeed Willard as the club’s director of pitching while also hiring away Quinn Cleary from the Seattle Mariners to serve as his No. 2. The two have already begun working to make their mark on the organization, though both emphasized that the Red Sox already have a solid foundation in place and that they plan to continue emphasizing Willard’s core tenet of “throwing nasty stuff in the zone.”
“That is the mantra,” Buck said. “Because it is simple to say, our guys remember it, and you can branch off from each one of those words and they become very complex.”
“It’s a perfect one sentence one-liner that really sums up the two big components of being a successful pitcher in the majors,” Cleary said.
Buck earned his promotion after just one year with the organization, joining the Red Sox as a pitching coordinator following the 2024 season after previously serving in a similar role with the New York Yankees. Upon coming to Boston, Buck worked closely with many of the Red Sox’s top pitching prospects, including Payton Tolle, one of the club’s biggest recent minor league success stories who rose from High-A to the majors in just his first year of professional baseball.
“The first time that I talked to him or heard him talk about pitching, I was a lot dumber then (than I am now),” Tolle said of Buck. “He’s one of the smartest guys that I’ve ever been around in the baseball world so to now have him as the head of development, it’s huge.”
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Another Red Sox pitcher who Buck has worked with is Garrett Whitlock, serving as the future Red Sox right-hander’s pitching coach during his rookie ball days as a Yankees farmhand.
“I think he’s going to be great for the organization,” Whitlock said. “He’s a very good pitching mind. He’s going to bring a lot of wisdom to the table when it comes to the movement side of things, the preparation, how to build up arms, that kind of thing. He’s very, very good at that.”
Before making the jump to the professional coaching ranks, Buck spent 15 years as a college coach after playing collegiately at Lamar Community College in Colorado and at the University of Utah. He also played a year of independent baseball before spending two years away from the sport working in a poker room, first as a dealer and then as the boss.
That job prepared him for coaching in ways you wouldn’t expect.
“There are a lot of skills that I learned from poker and from running a poker room that I still use to this day,” Buck said. “We had a VIP list of something like 280 VIPs, so attributing people’s names to their faces and not forgetting. Dealing with conflict, like for them this is higher stakes, it’s win or lose money. In some regards (baseball is) win or lose money. They’re putting themselves on the line thinking in bets. What are you willing to risk? What is not worth the risk? And how aggressive are you? How unaggressive are you? All these are transferable skills to life and this job.”
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Red Sox assistant director of pitching Quinn Cleary. (Mac Cerullo/Boston Herald)
Cleary’s journey to the Red Sox is equally fascinating.
Just 26 years old, Cleary is only a few years removed from his college playing days at Yale. He has quickly risen through the front office ranks since, first interning at Cressey Sports Performance before landing with the Philadelphia Phillies and then the Mariners, with whom he served as pitching coordinator.
This past offseason the Red Sox hired him as their new assistant director of pitching and head pitching strategist, specifically requesting permission from the Mariners to interview him.
“What a great hire,” Buck said. “Sharp mind, huge feel, I can’t imagine being as young as he is, as smart as he is, with as much feel as he has.”
How has he done it at such a young age?
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“I think a combination of being in the right place at the right time,” Cleary said. “I’ve been able to learn from a lot of really good people at all the stops I’ve been at. I hope to continue to do that here.”
Cleary also has a fascinating family history. His grandfather, Bill Cleary, was a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team and was the longtime men’s hockey coach and athletic director at Harvard. His parents were both Harvard athletes too, and his three brothers all attended Harvard as well.
Naturally, Cleary going to rival Yale was a bit of a departure from the family tradition.
“I am like truly the black sheep of my family,” Cleary said. “We joke that I sit at a different table at Thanksgiving but other than that it’s not too bad.”
Cleary described his new role as a hybrid front office and coaching/player development role that helps with both the majors league and minor leagues. He will also be among those assisting injured big leaguers with their rehab process, and he said he hopes to add value wherever he can.
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Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said Buck and Cleary have both been great to work with so far.
“It’s been fantastic, the communication lines are really solid,” Bailey said. “A lot of bright ideas and thoughts and visions, and what’s really good is the open-mindedness and the ability to listen and take in information and what’s worked and what hasn’t worked.”
With three pitchers ranked inside Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list and a huge crop of young arms coming up from the past two years’ pitcher-heavy draft classes, Buck and Cleary find themselves in a much different situation than the one Breslow and Willard inherited after the 2023 season. They said a lot of smart people put in a lot of work to help get the club’s pitching program on the right track, and they hope to build on that progress in the months and years to come.
“Justin did such an amazing job when he was here of laying this unbelievable foundation, things are really going in a real good direction and our job is to search for the one percents and two percents to keep improving,” Buck said. “It’s less about change and more about continuing on the path where evolution can happen.”
Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello will take the mound in his native Dominican Republic this Wednesday ahead of the World Baseball Classic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Bello’s big homecoming
Years from now Brayan Bello probably won’t remember his first two starts of spring training, but you can be sure he’ll never forget his next one.
This Wednesday the Red Sox right-hander will take the mound for Team Dominican Republic in a pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition against the Detroit Tigers at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. Bello has never pitched at the historic stadium before, and getting to pitch there will mark a special homecoming for the 26-year-old.
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“It’s going to be my first time after I was a big leaguer that I’m getting to pitch in the Dominican Republic in front of my friends and family, in front of my home country,” Bello said Friday via interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “For me it’s going to be very emotional, I’m very excited to be able to pitch there and I’m looking forward to it.”
A native of Samana, a town roughly two and a half hours away from the Dominican Republic’s capital city, Bello hopes to help pitch his country to its second World Baseball Classic title. The Dominican team previously won it all in 2013 and this year features All-Star standouts like Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., among others.
Hometown kids coming up
Almost anyone who grows up playing baseball around New England dreams of one day playing for the Red Sox, and this spring several local standouts hope to take the next step in their journey towards making that dream a reality.
Shea Sprague and Jack Winnay, both recent draft picks by the Red Sox with Boston-area ties, are among the many minor leaguers populating the Fenway South complex this spring. Sprague, a BC High alum from Hanover who starred at the University of North Carolina, is entering his second full professional season after being selected as a 13th-round pick in 2024. Winnay, a Newton resident who starred at Belmont Hill and Wake Forest, is in his first spring training after going as a 13th-round pick himself last summer.
Brian Abraham, the Red Sox’s senior director of player development, said the organization is really excited about both, noting that the pair also played for the same travel ball club as his son, North East Baseball.
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Sprague appeared in 22 games in his first pro season, earning a promotion from Low-A to High-A along the way and finishing with a 3.82 ERA in 96 2/3 innings, which was the eighth-highest innings total of any Red Sox minor leaguer.
“Really good pitchability,” Abraham said of the 23-year-old lefty. “Trying to increase his fastball velo, because he already has a good pitch mix and has a good way on the mound with his mix.”
Winnay debuted as a professional weeks after being drafted and made a strong first impression, batting .321 with a home run, three doubles and 11 RBI in only 15 games at Low-A Salem. The 22-year-old infielder will be a candidate to start this season at High-A, and Friday he was among a handful of minor leaguers who traveled up to North Port with the big league club.
“Jack has been playing mostly third but can play first, has really good power, moves well, really exciting I think,” Abraham said. “A lot of tools that we like and value.”
Burt signs with Tigers
North Andover’s Max Burt, a former St. John’s Prep and Northeastern University standout, signed with the Detroit Tigers as a minor league free agent this past week. The longtime New York Yankees minor leaguer spent his first eight professional seasons with the organization, playing the majority of that time at Double-A Somerset.
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According to the Somerset Patriots, Burt departs as the team’s all-time franchise leader in hits (241), runs (179) and games played (361). The 29-year-old will now get a fresh start as he looks to make a push to the majors with a new organization.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s hard to imagine Garrett Whitlock’s spring getting off to a better start. The Red Sox right-hander made it three straight scoreless outings through the first week of games Saturday by sending down the Minnesota Twins 1-2-3 in the third during the club’s eventual 13-8 win.
Now, Whitlock will get ready to join Team USA ahead of the World Baseball Classic.
“I’m stoked. I’ve been jittery the past two days, like, ‘Oh man it’s almost here,’” Whitlock said. “Now I’ve got to go home, do some laundry and do some packing.”
Whitlock and teammate Roman Anthony will fly to Arizona on Sunday to join the rest of the American squad, which features Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and many more of the game’s biggest stars. Team USA will play exhibitions against the Giants and Rockies this week before opening their tournament run in Houston against Brazil on Friday.
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Among those Whitlock expects to be in Houston for the tournament is his father, Larry Whitlock, a veteran who saw combat during the Vietnam War. Whitlock said getting to represent his country is an amazing honor, and that sharing the news with his father that he’d been selected to the team last fall was an incredible moment for the family.
“I called him and I was just like, ‘Hey I want you to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone else, as a vet, I’m just so honored that I get to represent this country for baseball,’ and he kind of sobbed up and everything,” Whitlock said. “It was a very cool moment for me and him.”
“I’m actually the only male in my family not to serve in the military,” Whitlock continued. “My dad, my uncle, my brother, my granddad on both sides, so it’s a really truly special thing that’s close to my heart and that’s why it’s such an honor for me. Forget the stage and everything else, just to represent the country, obviously I’ll never be able to sacrifice like so many of our service members do, but the chance that we can hopefully bring them some joy in anything, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”
To prepare for the tournament, Whitlock said he began his ramp up earlier than normal, throwing several live batting practices over the offseason when he’d typically wait until camp. The work was clearly evident through the first week of games, as Whitlock allowed just one hit in three innings with no walks and two strikeouts in his three Grapefruit League outings.
The next time he appears in a game the stakes will be a little bit higher, but if all goes according to plan, Whitlock won’t be back with the Red Sox for a while.
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“It was funny, (USA manager Mark DeRosa) texted us like three days ago and he’s like, ‘Hey y’all better be packing for 18 days because we aren’t doing anything less.’ Kind of fired the guys up,” Whitlock said. “So I’m going to go home and you don’t realize how long 18 days is until you try to pack for it.”
Gray shaky in debut
Sonny Gray made his first start in a Red Sox uniform and wasn’t sharp, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches before ultimately allowing two runs on three hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. He threw 31 pitches, 13 for strikes, and allowed a solo home run to James Outman to lead off the second.
“I don’t like throwing as many balls as I did,” Gray said. “You walk the first hitter, four pitches, you know you’re not setting yourself up for success there.”
Gray escaped a potentially problematic first inning unscathed when he drew a 6-4-3 double play turned by Trevor Story and Nick Sogard to escape a bases-loaded jam. But after giving up the solo home run in the second, he allowed a single and was lifted after drawing a groundout to end his day.
Early solid again
Connelly Early took the mound in the top of the fourth for what was effectively his second “start” of the spring, and the rookie left-hander performed well again, throwing 2 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
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Early posted a 1-2-3 fourth, allowed a single and an RBI double in the fifth and gave up a single before finishing his outing with back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth. The inherited runner later came around to score, giving Early the second earned run, but the lefty still threw 27 of his 39 pitches for strikes and topped out at 97.1 mph on the radar gun.
“I’m just trying to keep building the workload and I want to hold the velo going into all three innings,” Early said. “I thought I did a pretty good job with that.”
Duran homers twice
Jarren Duran has been red hot over the first week of games, and Saturday he came through again by launching two more home runs, including a two-run shot in the first inning for the second straight day.
Duran went deep to right-center field, crushing a 2-2 fastball from Twins starter Taj Bradley 401 feet for the two-run shot. He followed that up with another two-run bomb off Kendry Rojas in the fourth inning, this one going 409 feet.
The outfielder finished 2 for 2 with the two homers, four RBI, a walk and three runs scored. Duran is now batting .583 with a 2.167 OPS for the spring.
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Roman Anthony and Carlos Narvaez each went 2 for 3 with an RBI, Trevor Story went 1 for 3 with a triple and Max Ferguson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.
Coming up next
The Red Sox are now 5-3 in Grapefruit League and 3-0 against the Twins. Ranger Suarez will take the mound for the second time this spring on Sunday when the Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles. Aroldis Chapman, Justin Slaten, Wyatt Olds, Tayron Guerrero and Devin Sweet are all scheduled to pitch as well.
Applause and music echoed through the Hall of Flags at the Massachusetts State House Friday as lawmakers and community leaders gathered for the Black Excellence on the Hill and the Latino Excellence Awards.
The ceremony celebrates Black and brown residents committed to advancing economic equity.
“We’re honoring Black excellence,” said state Rep. Chris Worrell. “When we look at today, this is what it should look like. This is our house. Black people built this house, literally and figuratively.”
Honorees ranged from attorneys to former professional athletes. Nicole M. Bluefort of the Law Offices of Nicole Bluefort said she plans to use her platform to uplift others.
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“I will use my advocacy skills as an attorney to move people forward,” she said.
Former NBA player Wayne Seldan Jr. talked about his journey from McDonald’s All American to a full scholarship at Kansas and a professional career.
“You always want to keep striving for continued betterment and for stuff to grow,” he said. “I don’t think there should be mountaintops. I think we should always be striving to keep building.”
The keynote address was delivered by Michelle Brown, mother of Jaylen Brown, who spoke about raising two children as a single mother and the importance of faith, discipline and education.
“There are no shortcuts. There are no guarantees,” she said. “There was faith, there was discipline, and there was a deep belief that education created mobility.”
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Speakers emphasized that mobility is strengthened when communities work together for a common good. Bluefort highlighted the importance of mentorship and shared opportunity, while state Rep. Sally Kerans encouraged attendees to stand together across racial lines.
“In this moment, stand with others. Speak up. Don’t be afraid to say ‘That’s not normal.’ Be allies. Be supportive,” Kerans said.
Organizers said the ceremony was not only about recognition, but also about sustaining progress — encouraging leaders and residents alike to continue building toward a more equitable future.
