Red Sox Swing Much-Needed Trade With Rangers To Bolster Pitching Depth

Boston could use a diamond in the rough or two to fill out the back of the bullpen

Scott Neville | May 5, 2023

Red Sox Swing Much-Needed Trade With Rangers To Bolster Pitching Depth /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have shown some real promise following a four-game sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays, which vaulted the team out of the basement of the American League East and into third place.

While the team appears to be buzzing on all cylinders, there are still some concerns regarding the pitching staff.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom reportedly addressed the concern regarding the back of the bullpen Friday afternoon.

"(Texas) Rangers Minor League trade: right-handed pitcher Zack Littell is being sent to Boston for cash considerations," MLB.com's Kennedi Landry tweeted."

Littell is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA, an impressive 16-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .196 batting average against and 0.92 WHIP in 12 innings for Triple-A Round Rock this season.

Interestingly, the 27-year-old had strong seasons in 2019 and 2021 but struggled in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Overall, the right-hander has a 4.08 ERA with a 151-to-60 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .257 batting average against in 160 2/3 career innings at the big league level.

Littell appears set on bouncing between good and bad every other year, as he looks as good as ever this season.

The newly-acquired hurler features a 94-95 mph fastball, an effective slider and the occasional splitter.

Littell likely will start at Triple-A Worcester but could factor into the mix soon as both Kaleb Ort and Ryan Brasier occupy spots on the Red Sox's roster.

Newly acquired southpaw Brennan Bernardino appears to already have jumped those two on the depth chart with seven scoreless innings to begin the year, it would not take much for Littell to do the same.

Littell is not expected to become a reliable high-leverage arm for Boston but depth has already been tested this season and it was clear that the Red Sox needed to make some changes.

The acquisition of Littell is a step in the right direction as the club attempts to improve the pitching staff.

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Published May 5, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu