Craig Breslow Takes Stance on Red Sox's Driveline Question

Mar 12, 2022; Mesa, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs assistant general manager Craig Breslow arrives during a spring training workout at Sloan Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Craig Breslow Takes Stance on Red Sox's Driveline Question

Originally posted on Boston Red Sox on SI
By Jackson Roberts | Last updated May 22, 2026 11:48 AM ET

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In Boston Red Sox circles, the influence of Driveline Baseball is becoming a larger talking point day after day.

Driveline, one of the first and most prominent performance facilities for ballplayers to lean heavily into data and technology-assisted performance analysis, is certainly interconnected with the Red Sox in the Craig Breslow era.

And when Breslow and the ownership group fired manager Alex Cora and hitting coach Pete Fatse, he installed former Driveline instructor John Soteropulos as the new primary hitting coach. If there were already questions about the growing influence of Driveline and its principles in the Boston organization, that move was a real suggestion to those with preconceived notions.

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Breslow talks Red Sox's connections to Driveline

Despite having approximately a dozen employees with Driveline connections, including Driveline founder Kyle Boddy as a special advisor, Breslow recently struck back against the notion that the firm was taking over the brains of Boston's operations.

“We’re not looking to be Driveline. We’re not looking to be another organization. We’re the Boston Red Sox,” Breslow said, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “We have our beliefs, our methods and our information.

"We also have to recognize that facilities like Driveline and others, there are a number of prominent external resources that players are seeking out and going to in the offseason. If we ignore that reality, we’re not going to be able to meet players where they are."

Regardless of what Breslow says, it's hard to deny that some sort of internal discord exists. Cotillo also cited a former Red Sox player who said "the Driveline guys need to go."

The battle is the same as it ever was, at least on the surface: traditionalists vs. advocates for technology. But there needs to be more nuance to the conversation, because a Driveline method that completely unlocks one player's swing could have no effect on another.

That said, have the Red Sox seemingly leaned heavily on the data side of performance development in recent years? It's hard to deny -- that seemed to be one of the primary reasons Breslow was hired, after all.

This article first appeared on Boston Red Sox on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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