Boston, MA
Boys volleyball All-Scholastics and league All-Stars
ALL-SCHOLASTICS
Carter Barbosa (New Bedford)
Branch Barnes (Natick)
Finn Bell (Wayland)
Henry Bonney (Cambridge)
Owen Ching (Needham)
Adam Christianson (Newton North)
Mason Cleary (BC High)
Brian Cloonan (Needham)
Devin Dellamarggio (Needham)
Drew Eason (Methuen)
Kieran Fagan (Lincoln-Sudbury)
Jack Fan (Lexington)
Arthur Gomes (Milford)
Alex Guerra (Milford)
Samuel Huang (Newton North)
Cameron Johnston (North Quincy)
Harrison Landry (Natick)
Tyrell Lout (Lowell)
Sai Nallajennugari (Acton-Boxboro)
Alec Smagula (Brookline)
Kristaps Vaivars (Brookline)
Simon Vardeh (Newton North)
James Watt (Winchester)
HONORABLE MENTION
Joey Burke (Wayland)
Ben Cleary (BC High)
Victor DeSouza (Malden)
Brady Dwyer (Newton North)
Cody Fitzpatrick (Lowell)
Marco Gomez-Cabo (Andover)
Jake Koterba (Medfield)
Daniel Imasuen (Latin Academy)
James Levesque (Methuen)
Luke Lorence (Needham)
Tighe Lusk (St. John’s Prep)
Francis McGonagle (St. John’s (S))
Joey Newman (Milford)
Liam Quinn (Chelmsford)
Ruben Rodriguez (Revere)
Matt Salerno (Natick)
Tuto Sampaio (Winchester)
Colin Stuessi (Greater New Bedford)
ALL-SCHOLASTICS
CARTER BARBOSA
NEW BEDFORD
The Whalers brought back their well-decorated volleyball tradition with an undefeated regular season, anchored by their senior setter. Barbosa dished 604 assists to set a program record of 1,868 on his career, alongside 140 digs, 42 blocks and a 95-percent service percentage to earn his second Southeastern Conference volleyball MVP award and third overall (soccer). The National Honors Society member is set to study government at Harvard.
BRANCH BARNES
NATICK
An All-Scholastic honorable mention last year, the junior dialed up his game another notch to surpass 500 kills, 100 aces and 100 blocks on his career. Barnes was one of the most dynamic hitters in the state, posting 268 kills, 39 aces and 53 blocks to help lead Natick to its first Div. 1 state semifinal appearance since 2019. He is a High Honors student with a 3.95 GPA, plays volleyball year-round, and looks to play in college.
FINNIAN BELL
WAYLAND
Bell dominated as a sophomore outside hitter, leading Wayland to the Div. 2 state final. Bell earned co-MVP honors of the loaded Dual County League and was the only sophomore to make the Massachusetts Volleyball Coaches Association All-State Team. He plays club volleyball for Smash in pursuit of playing collegiate volleyball.
HENRY BONNEY
CAMBRIDGE
With 220 kills on a .221 hitting percentage, Bonney closed out his high school career as co-MVP of the Dual County League. The two-time DCL All-Star had four kills per set, following up a DCL All-League First Team season in soccer and a second DCL title in basketball. He is an AP Scholar with distinction, a National Honors Society member and graduates with a 4.0 GPA. Bonney heads to Vassar College in the fall.
OWEN CHING
NEEDHAM
Ching led the program to its fourth straight Div. 1 state final appearance as the state’s top libero. The senior passed a 2.4 rate in serve receive and accrued 233 digs, often extending rallies and initiating an effective attack. He was named a Bay State Conference All-Star, as well as to the Massachusetts Volleyball Coaches Association All-State Team.
ADAM CHRISTIANSON
NEWTON NORTH
The consensus top player in the state led Newton North to its first Div. 1 state title. Christianson dished 262 assists in his first year setting, adding to 194 kills on a .271 hitting percentage, 107 digs, 44 blocks and 35 aces to get the Tigers over the hump after falling in the state final last year. Christianson receives his second All-Scholastic nod. He heads to UMass in the fall.
MASON CLEARY
BC HIGH
Cleary wrapped his career with a bang as the Eagles reached their first Div. 1 state quarterfinal, notching 304 kills on a .300 hitting percentage, 295 digs, 60 blocks and 36 aces. He also passed at a 2.27 rating, bolstering a second All-Scholastic nod and MAVCA All-State honors. The senior is a High Honors student and is interested in coaching. He heads to Marquette next year.
BRIAN CLOONAN
NEEDHAM
The senior basketball star excelled in a leading role for the Rockets, posting 245 kills with a .296 hitting efficiency to help power a fourth straight Div. 1 state final appearance. Cloonan earned Bay State Conference All-Star honors and graduated with two state titles in the program’s three-peat. He’s a National Honor Society member and Honor Roll student, set to play basketball at Claremont McKenna College (Calif.) after two All-Scholastic and two BSC MVP selections in the sport.
DEVIN DELLAMARGGIO
NEEDHAM
After sharing setter duties last year, Dellamarggio was one of the state’s best. Needham’s dynasty continued to a fourth straight Div. 1 state final appearance, largely aided by his 681 assists and 168 digs in a Bay State Conference All-Star season. He won two state titles with the program and started on the Rockets basketball team. The senior heads to Saint Louis University in the fall.
DREW EASON
METHUEN
Eason followed impressive seasons in football and basketball by anchoring Methuen’s first Merrimack Valley Conference title since 1998. His 254 kills, 118 digs, 29 blocks and 17 aces won the MVC I Player of the Year award and helped the Rangers reach the Div. 1 state quarterfinals. He’s a two-time all-conference first team selection and a High Honors student (4.03 GPA). The football star heads to Stonehill next year.
KIERAN FAGAN
LINCOLN-SUDBURY
The 6-foot-1 outside hitter’s career finishes with over 500 kills and 500 digs, posting 187 kills, 175 digs, 14 blocks and 20 aces as a senior this year. Fagan is a two-time Dual County League All-Star and two-time DCL All-League selection. A two-sport athlete, he is set for Elon University in the fall.
JACK FAN
LEXINGTON
A four-year letterman, the senior wrapped an impressive setting career at Lexington by snapping the program’s assisting single-season (658) and career (1,271) records this year. Fan also notched 101 digs, 35 aces, 32 blocks and 25 kills to earn his second Middlesex League All-Conference nod. He’s a four-year Honor Roll student and National Merit Scholarship finalist with a 3.98 unweighted GPA, bound for Harvard in the fall.
ARTHUR GOMES
MILFORD
Gomes proved one of the state’s most versatile players as a libero and outside hitter, partially anchoring Milford to a third straight state semifinal appearance. The senior two-time All-Scholastic had 257 digs and a 2.28 serve receive rating, along with 66 kills and 32 aces. He is a QuestBridge Scholar, AP Scholar, High Honor Roll student, and he plays the saxophone. Gomes is set for Middlebury College.
ALEX GUERRA
MILFORD
Guerra erupted for a school-record 329 kills his senior year to set Milford’s new all-time mark with 1,012 while leading the Scarlet Hawks to a third straight state semifinals appearance. The two-time All-Scholastic also surpassed 500 career digs with 189, earning him a second MAVCA All-State Team selection. He’s a High Honor Roll and Honor Roll student, set to study two years at Mass Bay before heading to Bentley.
SAMUEL HUANG
NEWTON NORTH
Huang’s elite athleticism in the middle played a major role for Newton North to reach consecutive Div. 1 state finals, including the program’s first state title this spring. The senior Bay State Conference All-Star had 126 kills to make the MAVCA All-State Team, finishing with 367 on his career. Huang heads to UMass Amherst in the fall.
CAMERON JOHNSTON
NORTH QUINCY
The three-time All-Scholastic selection didn’t slow up in his final year, sounding off for 335 kills and 195 digs. Johnston’s 6-foot-6 frame and athleticism made him one of the more daunting hitters in the state over the last few years, leading North Quincy to its first Div. 2 state final appearance in 2022 and a state quarterfinal trip in 2023. He finishes with 935 kills, 474 digs and 100 blocks, and is set to play at Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.).
HARRISON LANDRY
NATICK
Landry was stellar in his senior season, posting 545 assists, 44 kills and 28 blocks as the RedHawks reached the Div. 1 state semifinals and were a set away from reaching the title game. The three-year captain closed his career with 1,345 assists and 104 kills en route to two All-Scholastic selections. A High Honors student, Landry is bound for Sacred Heart to study exercise science.
TYRELL LOUT
LOWELL
Lout dished out 450 assists this year after distributing 500 last year. The senior second-year starting setter earned a second All-Scholastic selection and is a two-time Merrimack Valley Conference First Team All-Conference selection. He is a National Honor Society member and made a state semifinal appearance in 2022. Lout heads to UMass-Lowell for computer science and hopes to continue his volleyball career.
SAI NALLAJENNUGARI
ACTON-BOXBORO
Nallajennugari had 246 kills and 41 blocks as a senior middle. He earned a Dual County League All-League nod and led the team to a second straight DCL title. Nallajennugari is a High Honor Roll student, a National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student, and a two-time President’s Volunteer Service Award recipient. Also a volunteer at hospitals and leader of the school’s Red Cross Club, the senior is bound for a six-year BA/MD program at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine.
ALEC SMAGULA
BROOKLINE
The sophomore built off an impressive freshman season, posting over 600 assists to already crack 1,000 on his young career. A two-year captain, Smagula notched over 100 digs as well and was a Bay State Conference All-Star in leading Brookline to the Div. 1 state quarterfinals. He is a standout in beach volleyball as a member of the USA Beach U17 National Team Development Program.
KRISTAPS VAIVARS
BROOKLINE
Vaivars had a breakout season for Brookline with 290 kills, leading the team in hitting efficiency as part of a trip to the Div. 1 state quarterfinals. The junior standout is committed to his craft in the sport as a grass and beach volleyball player and is headed to AAU nationals with his Smash club team. Vaivars plans on studying business and playing volleyball in college.
SIMON VARDEH
NEWTON NORTH
Following up an All-Scholastic honorable mention last year, Vardeh proved as elite as any on the outside to fuel a loaded and well-balanced Newton North squad. He delivered huge performances in the state final and state semifinals, contributing over 225 total kills to the Tigers’ first Div. 1 state title and their second straight state final appearance. He was selected to the MAVCA All-State team and was a Bay State Conference All-Star. He was a Wharton Global High School Investment Competition semifinalist.
JAMES WATT
WINCHESTER
Watt closed out his career as one of the most dominant players in Winchester history, notching 375 kills on a .285 hitting percentage while racking up 198 digs. His 28-kill and 26-kill performances this year marked the two highest single-game kill totals in school history to help him graduate with the program’s second most kills all-time. The three-year starter heads to UMass in the fall.
LEAGUE ALL-STARS
BAY STATE CONFERENCE
Anthony Volpe (Braintree); Kristaps Vaivars, Alec Smagula (Brookline); Adam Chan (Framingham); Harrison Landry, Branch Barnes, Matt Salerno (Natick); Owen Ching, Brian Cloonan, Luke Lorence, Devin Dellmarrgio (Needham); Adam Christianson, Simon Vardeh, Sam Huang, Brady Dwyer (Newton North); Luke Thompson (Weymouth)
MVP: Anthony Volpe, Adam Christianson
BOSTON CITY LEAGUE
Daniel Imasuen, Teddy Stylianopolous (Latin Academy); Ivan Tran (Madison Park); Max Dong, Otavio Perk, Tochukwu Njoku (O’Bryant)
MVP: Daniel Imasuen
COMMONWEALTH ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
UPPER DIVISION: Mamady Camara, George Robles, Ason Oeun, Ayden Young (Greater Lowell): Maddox Nguyen, Matty Bellerose, Matteo Wright, Luke Dennis (Lowell Catholic); Keegan Doherty, Kelvince Heang, Anthony Rubim (Greater Lawrence); Malcom Edwards, Eddie Butler (Salem)
LOWER DIVISION: Felipe De Oliveira, Elmer Duran, Ederick Gonzalez, Keury Mena (Lynn Tech); Bryan Tolentino, Darren Ath-ly, Brandon Rabanales, Xavier Pena (KIPP); Ayden Rogers, Luke Williams, Monireach Kong (Innovation); Noah Mercier, Matt Venturi, Miguel Robles (Whittier)
DUAL COUNTY LEAGUE
Kieran Fagan, Ben Gottlieb, Timmy Kearney, Ryan Hebrlig (Lincoln-Sudbury); Sameer Vasudeo, Sai Nallajennugari, Part Pawar, Obi Umeh (Acton-Boxboro); Tashi Mulug-Labrang (Cambridge); Zach Weiss, Ashish Uhlmann (Newton South); Joey Burke, Finn Bell, Liam Frenzel, Joe Kelly (Wayland); Henry Bonney, Eric Su, James Rochberg, Brennan Loud (Cambridge); Nicholas Tsie, Johan Pineda (Boston Latin); Dillon Power (WA); Bentley Huang (Weston/Waltham)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Henry Bonney, Finn Bell
GREATER BOSTON LEAGUE
Ahmed Abdelrahman (Lynn English); Brandon Rodriguez, Xavier Gonzalez, Jason Rodrigues (Chelsea); Ellis Vasquez (Medford); Ozzy Marks, Juelz Johnson (Somerville); Viet Tran, Long Pham (Lynn Classical); Aiden Chen, Edward Mei, Kenton Nguyen, Victor DeSouza (Malden); Henrique Franca, Kalleb Miranda (Everett); Ruben Rodriguez, Isaac Portillo, Larry Claudio (Revere)
MVP: Victor DeSouza, Ruben Rodriguez
MERRIMACK VALLEY CONFERENCE
Marco Gomez-Cabo, Noah Chanthaboum, Griffin Connell (Andover); Michael Ngyuen, Jaithain Medina (Central Catholic); Liam Quinn, Zach Spengler, Jack MacPhee (Chelmsford); Audom Mok (Dracut); David Castillo (Lawrence); Cody Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Lout, Ceazar Joseph (Lowell); Drew Eason, James Levesque, Shawn LaDuke (Methuen); Gyan Mistry, Prady Mistry (North Andover)
MVP: Drew Eason, Jaithain Medina
MIDDLESEX LEAGUE
Jamie Watt, Justin Girott, Kirk Levesque, Adam Lubomirski (Winchester); John Fullerton, Jack Fan, Nicholas Sanchez de Rojas, Aleesandro Luciani (Lexington); Matt Raines (Woburn); Ian Lewis (Arlington); Tony Mathew (Arlington); Erik Roberts (Belmont); Rubens DaSilva Jr. (Wakefield)
MVP: Jamie Watt
SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE
Carter Barbosa, Juan Grau Montano (New Bedford); Chris Milford, Daniel Matuszer, Josh Sanon (Durfee); Jason Bryant, Santiago Duquette (Brockton)
MVP: Carter Barbosa
TRI-VALLEY LEAGUE
Zach Mantegani, Aiden Gibbs (Bellingham); Ian Hoskins, Connar Dexter (Dighton-Rehoboth); Henry Kiggen (Millis); Jake Koterba, Hayden Hillenmeyer, Thomas Waters (Medfield); Anthony D’Amore, Andrew Strojny (Norton); Benjamin Berry, Liam Foley (King Philip); Sebastian Eugene, Khyrell Miller (Norwood); Logan DeMarzo, Haden Houchantara (Nipmuc)
MVP: Ian Hoskins
Boston, MA
Monster effort from Neemias Queta helps pave the way for Celtics in win over 76ers – The Boston Globe
Queta has been a revelation for the Celtics this season and helped them improbably surge into second place in the Eastern Conference. But it is unlikely he or his team envisioned nights like Sunday, when he crafted the best game of his career to propel Boston to a 114-98 win over the 76ers at TD Garden, its 11th in 13 games.
The 26-year-old center finished with 27 points and 17 rebounds and received ‘MVP’ chants several times in the fourth quarter.
“I thought he’s had great ownership and responsibility to what it calls for to be a starting center for the Celtics, and he’s got to continue to get better,” Mazzulla said. “He works at it. He cares. So, it’s a credit to him.”
The Celtics, who entered the night averaging 17.1 second-chance points per game, poured in 30 Sunday, with Queta leading the charge. With 76ers center Andre Drummond often playing up and trying to congest the lanes for Boston’s talented ballhandlers, Queta forcefully and quickly found space around the rim.
“We just gave him the ball and trusted him to make the right decision every time, and he was able to get it going,” forward Jaylen Brown said. “He had some nice up-and-unders in the seam and stuff like that that helped propel us to a win.”
Brown added 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists for Boston.
Tyrese Maxey had 33 points to lead the 76ers, but they did not come easily. The All-Star guard played 43 minutes and made just 12 of 34 shots. Philadelphia was without star center Joel Embiid (oblique).
“He didn’t have a ton of layups, didn’t have a ton of free throws,” Mazzulla said of Maxey. “I thought he obviously missed some good shots, but when you have the ball as much as he did, I thought we did a really good job just being disciplined, defending without fouling, keeping him out of transition.”
The Celtics improved to 40-20, with just 22 games remaining in the regular season. After the game, there was a visible reminder of what could be on the way.
Star forward Jayson Tatum, who could be nearing a return from last May’s Achilles injury, sat at his locker and laughed and joked with team staffers. He also posted the latest clip from the NBC docuseries about his comeback on his social media accounts.
For now, of course, the Celtics continue to plow forward without him. On Sunday, Boston quickly wiped away an early 10-point deficit behind Queta. He registered five offensive rebounds in the opening period, and flashed an unusual amount of offensive creativity during his dominant second quarter.
During one stretch, he danced through the lane for a basket, converted a putback, then dazzled the crowd by trailing a fast break, taking a pass from Brown, and converting an acrobatic scoop shot that gave Boston a 40-35 lead.
“We don’t want him to get too carried away with some of those,” Brown said, smiling. “But he was converting them tonight and it looked good.”
Queta reminded everyone that much of his value comes from his defensive work when he swatted a Kelly Oubre Jr. shot out of bounds, and he received a rare standing ovation when he checked out moments later.
Finally, after a well-executed two-for-one opportunity, Brown found Baylor Scheierman, who played with a splint on his broken left thumb, in the right corner; he hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave Boston a 62-50 lead at the break. Scheierman gave a high thumbs-up with his bandaged digit.
The Celtics led by 16 early in the third quarter, but the 76ers continued to push back. Three-pointers in the final minute by Quentin Grimes and Maxey made it 89-83 at the start of the fourth.
The 76ers trailed by 6 with four minutes left in the fourth quarter but missed their next five shots, any one of which could have put real pressure on Boston.
With 2:56 left, Queta converted a layup as he was fouled, stretching the lead back to 105-97. He received ‘MVP’ chants for the second time in the quarter when he went to the foul line. Then, with 1:56 left, he put an exclamation point on his memorable night by grabbing yet another offensive rebound and throwing down a two-handed dunk that made it 109-98.
“I thought Neemi matched and exceeded the [76ers] physicality,” Mazzulla said.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
Boston, MA
Bruins Believe They ‘Didn’t Do Enough’ In Loss To Flyers | NESN
The Boston Bruins suffered a 3-1 road loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Boston entered the game in points in eight-straight games, as the Bruins are competing for a playoff spot. However, Boston’s offense struggled on Saturday, as the Bruins scored just once on Dan Vladar, and head coach Marco Sturm felt like the team didn’t do enough to create more scoring chances.
“(Vladar) played really good, he kind of made those saves he needed to,” Sturm said as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage on Saturday. “We just didn’t do enough of a good job being around him or being front of him.”
Although Sturm didn’t like Boston’s play, Vladar still made some key stops when the game was close.
Bruins forward Morgan Geekie had multiple chances and was frustrated that he couldn’t score on any of them.
“Just one of those nights,” Geekie said. “Their goalie played well. Couldn’t quite put it in the spot I wanted to a couple times and Dan made a couple great plays.”
Boston’s lone goal came from Charlie McAvoy, while Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves on 16 shots, as Philadelphia added an empty-netter to secure the win.
With the loss, the Bruins fell to 33-21-5 and are holding onto the final Wild Card spot. Boston will return to the ice at home on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
More NHL: Charlie McAvoy’s Mother Reveals His Immediate Reaction To Team USA’s Gold Medal Win
Boston, MA
MLB notes: New Red Sox pitching directors looking to keep pipeline flowing
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.
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.”
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.”
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?
“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.
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.”

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.
“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.
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.
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.
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News1 week agoWorld reacts as US top court limits Trump’s tariff powers