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Red Sox Share Major Announcement About Former First-Round Pick

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jake Elman | Last updated Mar 18, 2025 9:33 AM ET

Sean Newcomb could go from wearing replica Boston Red Sox jerseys to donning the real thing at Fenway Park.

Newcomb, a Brockton, Mass. native who grew up rooting for the Red Sox, has an excellent opportunity to crack the team’s Opening Day rotation. The 31-year-old is currently competing with Richard Fitts, Quinn Priester, Cooper Criswell, and Michael Fulmer for one of the final two rotation spots.

So far, so good. Newcomb owns a 0.93 ERA and 10 strikeouts across 9.2 spring innings.

“He’s caught our eyes,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters Monday.

Projected starters Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, and Kutter Crawford will all start the season on the injured list. Giolito (hamstring) and Bello (right shoulder) expect to return in April.

Crawford is out indefinitely with a lingering right knee injury.

Enter Newcomb, a 2014 Los Angeles Angels first-round pick who joined the Atlanta Braves in 2015. Newcomb went 24-23 with a 4.25 ERA over 144 games (57 starts) for the Braves from 2017-2022.

Newcomb moved to the bullpen in 2019 after spending his first two years in the rotation. He’s tallied a 5.23 ERA and -0.1 bWAR for three teams since 2019.

Newcomb recorded a 6.30 ERA and more walks (eight) than strikeouts (seven) in 10 innings for the Oakland Athletics last year.

So, how could Newcomb go from a struggling reliever on a 93-loss club to starting for a talented Red Sox team? Cora said the Red Sox are especially impressed with Newcomb’s cutter.

Sean Newcomb has been a nice surprise for the Red Sox this spring: 9.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 hits, 0.83 WHIP, and 10 K.

Just went 3 scoreless vs the Mets with 1 hit, 1 BB, and 5 strikeouts. Being on the OD roster of his childhood team would be sick! #RedSox pic.twitter.com/N8DWa168sr
— StatsBrad (@StatsBrad) March 13, 2025

According to Baseball Savant, Newcomb threw his cutter 32.1% of the time in 2022 but barely used it the last two seasons.

“This is a guy we’ve seen from the last few years against us,” Cora said, according to MassLive. “It always caught my attention.”

The Red Sox haven’t won the AL East since 2018. Perhaps the missing piece won’t be Alex Bregman or Garrett Crochet, but a local kid with a 3.2 career bWAR.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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