WORCESTER — The Red Sox have moved hard-throwing prospect David Sandlin to the bullpen at Triple-A Worcester. The decision puts him in a position to potentially help out the major league bullpen during Boston’s stretch run.
The 24-year-old righty made his first relief appearance Tuesday against Buffalo at Polar Park, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out two in 1 ⅓ inning. He reached 98.4 mph with his fastball.
“It’s not a long-term thing,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said before the game Tuesday. “He’s gonna start. But if they need him in the bullpen, you can come out of there throwing 98, 99 (mph) and move your fastball three ways and throw strikes, like, we want to explore that.”
Sandlin was promoted from Double-A Portland to Worcester last week. He started for the WooSox vs. Lehigh Valley on Friday and allowed one run in 5 innings. He topped out at 98.1 mph with his heater.
The Red Sox want to at least get him ready as a reliever in case a need arises in the Boston bullpen during the final two months.
Boston put together “a full layout” over the next few weeks for when he will pitch.
“It’s just this slow progression of getting him used to doing that and more scheduling it out, rather than just, ‘Hey, you’re in the pen, go down there and wait for the phone to ring,’” Tracy said.
Tracy said it will be important to check in with Sandlin between outings to see how his arm feels and how he’s recovering.
“He’s got a lot of different pitches,” Tracy said. “Actually so many, that if you go to the pen, we’re going to pare that down.”
Sandlin’s velocity obviously makes him attractive out of the bullpen. He’s been up to triple-digits with his fastball. He provides three different fastball looks with a four-seamer with ride up in the zone, a sinker and cutter.
“So when you really think about it’s like he can go three different directions with a fastball … If those are effective pitches, you could probably go out there with just those three and be all right,” Tracy said. “But he also has a pretty good slider and change.
“So he’s got the arsenal to be able to do that,” Tracy said, adding that it’s about paring it down and throwing strikes.
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