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Boston Red Sox prospect up to 99 mph, roomed with son of idol David Ortiz
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- Boston Red Sox prospect up to 99 mph, roomed with son of idol David Ortiz
Hard-throwing lefty Brandon Clarke hasn't just added three pitches to his mix since the Red Sox drafted him in the fifth round (148th overall) last July.
Clarke, who turned 22 on April 10, has also added a close friend (and roommate) who happens to be the son of his all-time favorite baseball player.
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" David Ortiz was my favorite player growing up and so I followed the Red Sox my whole entire life," Clarke said by phone Monday.
Clarke met Ortiz's son — fellow 2024 draft pick D'Angelo Ortiz — while working out at the JetBlue Park complex during the offseason. Clarke, Ortiz and 2024 sixth round pick Blake Aita rented an Airbnb together during spring training.
"We got super close over spring training," Clarke said. "I showed him pictures from when I was young and I showed him my (Red Sox/Ortiz) jerseys and everything. It was pretty cool to be able to talk to him about that."
Clarke — whose Red Sox fandom dates back to when he was 4 years old — has been one of Boston's most dominant minor league pitchers here early in the 2025 season.
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The southpaw (0.63 ERA) has allowed just one earned run, three hits and two walks while striking out 24 in 14 ⅓ innings over four starts for Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville. He received a promotion to Greenville last Monday , then struck out seven while allowing just one unearned run, one hit and no walks in 4 ⅔ innings against Asheville in his High-A debut last Wednesday.
"This is nothing short of a blessing," Clarke said. "I'm so thankful for it. I try to step into every single day and not forget how blessed I am and how good of an opportunity it is. ... Just enjoy every single day, not take it for granted."
In college, Clarke primarily threw a four-seam fastball and curveball while also mixing in a changeup occasionally. But he's now a six-pitch pitcher after adding a sweeper, cutter and two-seamer since entering the organization. He still uses his curveball and changeup as secondary pitches, too.
He already considers his cutter his best secondary pitch.
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"That's my newest pitch, so that's pretty encouraging to see and be able to use," he said. "I've thrown it a lot this year. They asked me to have some usage goals and to use it in counts to challenge myself."
Clarke throws his four-seam fastball up in the zone and keeps his two-seamer down. The cut fastball complements his other two fastballs.
"That pitch is huge," Clarke added about his cutter. "Really, really big for me. It's a spin pitch that isn't straight like the fastball and looks like a fastball and I can throw it for strikes. I can throw it for chase later in the count for a strikeout."
He's shown an ability to get swings and misses on the cutter both inside and outside of the zone.
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"It's gonna be really big for me moving on ... being able to spin that for strikes and then make it look like my fastball and get some swing and miss out of the zone for strikeouts, too," he said.
Clarke has topped out at 99.5 mph this season. He said his velo "definitely ticked up" after the Tommy John surgery that he underwent as a junior in high school. He always threw with above-average velocity for his age. But he began throwing well above average post-surgery/rehab.
"When I'm in the zone at my 97 mph average and getting up to 99, 100, and sitting anywhere between 96 to 99, I would say, that's when I'm most effective. Because then my offspeed pitches work just that much better," he said.
Clarke — who has struck out 45.3% of the batters he has faced — said he feels comfortable using all his secondary pitches late in counts.
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"Being able to have a good mix up and good breakdown of all the pitches keeps the hitters on their toes," he said. "So the less you use them essentially, the more effective they are when you do use them. So honestly just mixing up all of them late in the count so that I can get the swing and miss."
That includes his sweeper, which is new but a pitch he hasn't hesitated using.
"That's a late in the count pitch for strikeout swing and miss because that's a left to right pitch as well," he said. "Obviously it's a bigger shape so sometimes it's something that you want to use late in the count to get swing and miss out of the zone. With the cutter. I can get swing and miss in the zone. But yeah, I'm using all my pitches."
Clarke was listed at 6-foot-4, 220 pounds coming out of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota but he's now around 230-235 pounds, he said.
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"Our nutrition program does a great job of taking care of us, getting us the fuel we need, the food we need," he said. "So just resting, getting my sleep, eating a lot of food and just working out."
Clarke (just two walks) said strike-throwing "has been a huge part" of his game this year.
"I always threw hard. I just needed to throw more strikes and that was a big piece for me starting last year," he said. "Last season, getting into my last season of college ball and coming into pro ball, I took a huge step just being able to be over the plate and throw strikes. And then since I've gotten into pro ball, it's taken another step."
He said there's still "more room to grow" with command/control.
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"Will continue to get better and throw more strikes but that's been really cool to see," Clarke said.
He described getting the call on draft day from his favorite team as "a pretty cool experience."
Clarke has yet to meet David Ortiz despite rooming with D'Angelo.
"Honestly, I was more of a hitter my whole life growing up," Clarke said about having a hitter (not a pitcher) as his childhood idol. "I didn't really follow or study pitching too much until I started getting into high school."
Clarke has visited Fenway Park three times. His parents first took him there for his 12th birthday in 2015.
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"They surprised me with that," he said. "I don't remember anything about the game other than the Jays beat the Sox that night. It's been quite a while but that was a great experience.
"Hopefully we can make it a point where I'm playing in the stadium sometime here soon," he added.
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BETTING:Red Sox -1.5 runline is listed at +156 on DraftKings for Wednesday's game versus the Rangers. If you're a new sports bettor, be sure to check out our Massachusetts beginner's guide .
Other Red Sox minor league notes:
~Red Sox 2023 third round pick Antonio Anderson received a promotion for High-A Greenville on Monday. The 19-year-old third baseman/first baseman began the season with Low-A Salem where he batted .345 with a .436 on-base percentage, .488 slugging percentage, .924 OPS, two home runs, six doubles, 17 RBIs, 18 runs, 15 walks and 22 strikeouts in 22 games (105 plate appearances). He went 0-for-4 in Greenville's 4-2 loss to Rome on Tuesday.
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~The Red Sox promoted 18-year-old Justin Gonzales to Low-A Salem on Monday after just one game in the Florida Complex League. He went 1-for-4 with a single in his Salem debut. Salem lost 5-4 to Fayetteville. The 6-foot-6 first baseman/outfielder slugged .517 with five home runs, 11 doubles and four triples in 47 games (192 plate appearances) in the Dominican Summer League last year.
~ Josh Winckowski pitched well in his second start of the season for Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday. He allowed just one unearned run, three hits and no walks while striking out four in 6 innings against Lehigh Valley. He threw his slider 21 times and got five swings and misses with it.
~Reliever Nick Burdi threw another scoreless inning for Worcester on Tuesday. The hard-throwing 32-year-old — who Boston signed to a minor league deal in February — has allowed just one run in 15 ⅔ innings (0.57 ERA). He has given up nine hits and four walks while striking out 22.
~Catcher Blake Sabol homered twice, including an extra inning grand slam in the WooSox' 6-4 victory over Lehigh Valley .
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~Double-A Portland's game Tuesday against Chesapeake was postponed. The two teams will play a doubleheader Wednesday starting at 5 p.m.
More On Red Sox Prospects
Read the original article on MassLive .
