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.
It’s the first full day of spring! It will feel springier today, with temperatures starting out in the 40s, and topping our in the upper 40s and low 50s– not bad for this time of year!
On top of that, these stubborn morning clouds finally get a move on, leaving us with sunshine by the afternoon. It’ll be breezy (gusts in the 20s), but a really nice day to get outside.
Overnight, temperatures will be seasonable in the low to mid 30s, and clouds increase. Those clouds are out ahead of the next storm. Brace yourselves: not because this storm is massive, but because it’s messy.
We’ll start with a few showers, especially for the North Shore, late Sunday morning and early Sunday afternoon. From there, we keep the clouds around but stay dry for most of Sunday afternoon and evening.
Precipitation returns with showers, and eventually more rain close to midnight. From there, we’ll transition to a wintry mix and some snow showers as this storm tapers off mid-morning on Monday.
When it comes down to it, there are a few things about this storm that are still unsettled. What seems to be a “given” at this point is that there will be rain and a mushy mix of wintry precip, with the potential for some light accumulations (largely a slushy coating) along and north of route 2 especially. That said, stay with us as we track this slushy spring storm, considering these details could very well change as we head into tomorrow.
Once the storm is out of our hair, we tumble back into a short-lived cooler trend. Highs on Monday will be in the upper 30s. Tuesday, while mostly sunny, will be in the mid 40s (a few degrees below average). Temperatures will climb back to the upper 40s on Wednesday with more clouds around. We may see a spotty shower on Wednesday as well, though most of the day stays dry.
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A debate is growing in Massachusetts over how American history should be told after two historical films were removed from public viewing at the Lowell National Historical Park.
The films documented the lives of mill workers, including women and immigrants, who helped build the city of Lowell during the Industrial Revolution.
One film described how factories were “noisy and unhealthy,” with workers exposed to dangerous conditions, but also highlighted Lowell’s transformation into a diverse city shaped by generations of newcomers.
Robert Forrant, a history professor at UMass Lowell and Lowell resident, said removing the films risks leaving out key parts of the city’s identity.
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He told NBC10 Boston the city’s early history is deeply tied to immigration and women entering the workforce and that telling the story, “warts and all,” is essential to preserving the truth about how Lowell developed.
“Having those stories available to people when they come to visit the park or they go online and look at the material in the park is critically important,” Forrant said.
State Rep. Tara Hong, whose district includes Lowell, is now pushing our federal lawmakers to restore the films, sending a letter to U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, all Massachusetts Democrats, earlier this month.
“I don’t see anything wrong in [the films]. [They] just showed the beautification of our city of Lowell,” he said. “It’s a story that really resonates with many of us here in the city of Lowell.”
Hong is an immigrant himself, having moved to the United States from Cambodia in 2013.
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The controversy comes as the U.S. Department of the Interior implements Secretary’s Order 3431, a directive stemming from the administration of President Donald Trump that calls for federal agencies to review historical content to ensure it aligns with what the order describes as accurate and shared national values.
The order has also prompted a federal lawsuit and preliminary injunction filing from preservation and environmental groups, who argue the policy could lead to the removal or alteration of historical materials at national parks across the country.
Markey has criticized the films getting taken down in Lowell, even posting one of them to his YouTube page.
“If we don’t learn from history, we are bound to repeat it, and that’s why I’ve put the video up,” Markey said. “I now have tens of thousands of views because people care about history.”
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In a statement to NBC10 Boston, the National Park Service said the films were flagged for review as part of the federal directive, but emphasized that being flagged does not mean the material will be changed or removed permanently.
The agency said staff were asked to identify items that might warrant clarification, and that in most cases across the national park system, materials identified for review remain unchanged.
The debate comes at a symbolic moment for the city, just weeks after Lowell marked its 200th birthday back on March 1.
Gerrit Cole throws and participates in drills in Tampa | Yankees Spring TrainingDuring a Yankees’ spring training workout, ace Gerrit Cole threw, ran and participated in drills, as teammates also got defensive work in. Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells, Max Fried, Jose Caballero, David Bednar and Paul Goldschmidt also warmed up and got loose for the day.
