The Boston Red Sox chose to prioritize their younger players rather than look for many external options, but one of their few offseason additions continues to show why he was worth bringing in.
Lucas Giolito was arguably the most notable add by Boston this offseason but he will be sidelined throughout the 2024 season with a partially torn UCL. This created an opportunity for someone to take the last spot in the rotation and Cooper Criswell is figuratively stepping up to the plate.
In his outing on Monday, the 27-year-old went 3 2/3 scoreless, striking out four and giving up two hits.
Criswell had a 3.93 ERA with an 80-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .260 batting average against and a 1.30 WHIP 84 2/3 innings pitched across 23 games for the Tampa Bay Rays Triple-A affiliate Durham Bulls last season.
Last week, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow floated around the idea of Criswell making the Opening Day rotation and since then Criswell has proven why he should earn the nod.
It's been an impressive spring training for the newly acquired righty, and if he can keep it up he should be a legitimate candidate to be the next-man up in Boston's rotation. For the time being, he will likely spend some time in Triple-A Worcester to kick off the 2024 season.
Publicly, the battle for the final rotation spots appear to be between Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck, Josh Winckowski and Criswell.
The likely scenario, however, is that Whitlock and Houck get the nod, Winckowski returns to the bullpen and Criswell heads to the WooSox and awaits an opportunity, likely created by injury.
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