Kyle Harrison is morphing into a distinct pitcher than the one the Crimson Sox acquired from the Giants as a part of June’s jaw-dropping Rafael Devers deal. That was the plan when Boston introduced him on board, as evidenced by the 24-year-old southpaw’s having spent shut to 3 months in Triple-A following the swap. With 182 2/3 massive league innings below his belt, the previous top-rated prospect within the San Francisco system was despatched to Worcester to have his repertoire reconfigured.
His major weapons stay largely the identical. Harrison nonetheless assaults hitters with a one-two combo that Eric Longenhagen known as “an uphill fastball” and “an enormous bending breaking ball.” The previous is an 94.8-mph heater, whereas the latter is an 84.2-mph providing that’s categorized as a slurve.
After which there are the brand new additions.
“Firstly, there’s the cutter,” stated Harrison, who has made two appearances and allowed one run over 9 innings since making his Crimson Sox debut on September 10. “There’s additionally a sinker that I can combine in to lefties. I’ve a brand new changeup grip, as effectively. Every little thing else is similar. The four-seam is sort of how I’ve at all times been recognized — and I nonetheless have the slurve — so now it’s been about including the opposite secondary stuff to guard it.”
Harrison talked about including a cutter after I spoke to him early final season, however the pitch by no means actually took maintain. Per Baseball Savant, he threw solely six of them in 2024. As for the changeup, there have been a number of iterations. After tweaking his unique grip final yr, he’s now a member of the kick change era.
“It was just like Logan Webb’s changeup — the best way he throws his with a one-seam orientation — however I’ve switched to a kick,” Harrison defined. “That’s what I’m making an attempt to harness. It’s a little more durable to get a really feel for. Throwing a kick sort of takes away that being excellent, of making an attempt to pronate a pitch and get to a spot. Now it’s, ‘Throw the pitch and let the kick deal with it.’”
The early outcomes are promising, significantly by way of motion profile.
“With the previous changeup, I used to be normally optimistic vert — positive-one, positive-two, after which negative-two at finest,” stated Harrison, who has thrown 46 kick adjustments (8.8%) since his call-up. “I’m constantly unfavorable now, so this pitch might undoubtedly be an eye-opener for me. I like the way it’s feeling to this point; it’s only a matter of getting extra snug with it. I must constantly get it over the plate, and I additionally want to have the ability to command it out of the zone. After I was in Triple-A, I used to be leaving a few of them over the center of the plate.”
Leaving his unique group — the Giants took him within the third spherical of the 2020 draft out of Harmony, California’s De La Salle Excessive College — spurred the change.
“I by no means actually tried any new changeup grips over there,” Harrison advised me. “Then I received right here to Boston. We tried one down in Worcester that was some type of a splitter, nevertheless it didn’t actually have one of the best form, so we tried the kick change. That’s after I began to clip some negative-fives, negative-eights. That’s when it was like, ‘All proper, we are able to throw this factor.’ Once more, we simply must get it over the plate.”
Throwing his slurve to each side of the plate is one more post-San Francisco adjustment. Whereas his previous membership principally needed the pitch arm aspect, away to righties, Crimson Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey has talked to the lefty about having extra of a back-foot method.
“With the Giants, I felt like I used to be boxed into simply going backdoor to righties with it,” Harrison stated. “Right here, it’s cool that they need me to throw that factor below bats. I believe that’s the subsequent step for that pitch — making an attempt to get some chase. If I’m getting forward with my different stuff, I can use it to get swings, particularly in opposition to aggressive groups.”
That Harrison’s arsenal and method are present process changes is in some ways not a shock. His San Francisco tenure, which spanned elements of three seasons, included a 4.48 ERA and a 4.56 FIP over these aforementioned 182 2/3 innings. By and huge, he was falling in need of what had been excessive expectations.
What’s considerably stunning is that, regardless that the Giants are usually thought to be a savvy pitching group, it took a change of surroundings for the changes to occur. I requested Harrison for his ideas on that being the case.
“I assume I’d say that I’m not shocked,” Harrison stated. “I used to be sort of their prime prospect, so it was nearly like me simply getting by with my stuff. They didn’t need to change me, in a way. After I received over right here, it was sort of cool to step into sort of a developmental section the place I might experiment with new pitches and see what I preferred. I might really feel the nice ones, really feel the unhealthy ones, and go from there. Now I’ve received 5 pitches. I’m undoubtedly joyful for this chance.”
And why wouldn’t he be? He’s scheduled to start out tonight at dwelling in opposition to the Tigers. His crew’s magic quantity is one. Just some months after San Francisco shipped him as much as Boston, Harrison has an opportunity to be the successful pitcher in a recreation at Fenway that sends the Crimson Sox to the postseason. Some alternative, certainly.