Boston Red Sox Reportedly Hiring Baltimore Orioles' Chris Holt as Bullpen Coach

Chris Holt spent the past four seasons handling the Baltimore Orioles' pinching staff, and now he is in line to take charge of the Boston Red Sox's bullpen in 2025.

Jun 3, 2023; San Francisco, California, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitching coach/director of pitching Chris Holt (38) before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox have agreed to hire Chris Holt as their next bullpen coach, MASN's Roch Kubatko reported Wednesday.

According to Kubatko, the deal is likely to become official next week.

Holt was the Baltimore Orioles' pitching coach between 2021 to 2023, during which he also served as the club's director of pitching. The Orioles removed Holt's title as pitching coach at the end of last season, though, replacing him with Atlanta Braves bullpen coach Drew French.

Baltimore then let Holt go entirely this October, promoting minor league pitching coordinator Forrest Hermann to take over as director of pitching in his place.

That opened the door for Holt to take another job elsewhere, and he wound up landing with the Orioles' AL East rivals up in Boston.

Longtime big league reliever Craig Breslow stepped in as the Red Sox's Chief Baseball Officer last fall, and he surely values the bullpen as much as any executive in the league. Breslow dismissed Boston's last bullpen coach, Kevin Walker, in October after four seasons on the job.

Holt, 45, will be working under director of pitching Justin Willard and pitching coach Andrew Bailey, both of whom were brought on last fall. The Maine native will be tasked with managing a bullpen that ranked No. 24 in MLB with a 4.39 ERA in 2024.

Closer Kenley Jansen and setup man Chris Martin both entered free agency at the end of the season, costing Boston its two most reliable high-leverage veterans. Liam Hendriks is in line to make his debut with the team in 2025 after missing all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, however.

Greg Weissert, Zack Kelly, Justin Slaten, Cam Booser, Josh Winckowski and Brennan Bernardino make up the meat of the returning core. Garrett Whitlock could also enter the fray, if the Red Sox elect to move the oft-injured righty out of the rotation.

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