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New Red Sox lefty up to 98 mph throwing from ‘weird angle’ ready to ‘try to take’ roster spot
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- New Red Sox lefty up to 98 mph throwing from ‘weird angle’ ready to ‘try to take’ roster spot
BOSTON — Left-handed reliever Tyler Samaniego has yet to pitch above the Double-A level but he’s looking to win a spot on the Red Sox ’ 2026 Opening Day roster.
“Absolutely. Go in there (to spring training), be as prepared as I can be, and go try to take a job,” Samaniego said Tuesday at Boston’s Rookie Development Program at Fenway Park.
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Boston acquired the 26-year-old Samaniego with starting pitcher Johan Oviedo from the Pirates on Dec. 4. In return, the Red Sox sent power-hitting outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia to Pittsburgh .
“(Pirates GM) Ben Cherington gave me a phone call. He told me the news. It was really shocking at first, but it was great,” Samaniego said. “It’s great to be wanted in such a storied franchise in such a good sports town.”
Samaniego should have an opportunity in spring training with lefty relievers Justin Wilson (free agent), Brennan Bernardino ( traded to the Rockies ), Chris Murphy (traded to White Sox ) and Steven Matz (signed with Rays ) no longer on the roster. Aroldis Chapman is the only left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster with more than 81 big league appearances.
That said, Boston remains in the market for left-handed relief help and has been in touch with multiple veteran southpaws with just a little under four weeks before pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers.
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Samaniego, a Pirates 2021 15th-round draft pick out of South Alabama, made it to Double-A in his first full professional season in 2022 but injuries have prevented him from getting any further.
He dealt with a back issue and then missed the final two and a half months of the 2024 season due to an elbow injury that required an internal brace procedure. He returned in mid-May 2025 and pitched well for Double-A Altoona down the stretch, posting a 3.08 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 30 strikeouts and six walks while holding opponents to a .189 batting average in 20 outings (26 ⅓ innings).
“It has been frustrating, for sure,” Samaniego said. “I had a great ’22, had some stuff to work on in ’23. And rolling into ’24, I had like a little back thing that I was dealing with. Threw through it.”
He said throwing through the back injury probably contributed to his elbow injury.
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“That’s been challenging for sure, but I think it was something that needed to happen to me just to get like the bigger picture of things,” Samaniego said.
Samaniego likes to be around the 95-98 range with his fastball. He throws both a four-seamer and two-seamer.
“I do like the four-seamer up in the zone and then I like the two-seam/sinker more down in the zone,” Samaniego said.
“They play really well off each other I believe because if I spot the two (seamer) at the bottom of the zone and you kind of get them looking for that and then you get them off the offspeed and you can blow them up at the top with the four,” he added.
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Above-average extension in his delivery and a lower arm slot also make the fastball play better.
“I would call it like a low three-quarter slot, kind of like an up-shoot slot for the fastball,” Samaniego said.
That angle can especially be difficult for left-handed hitters.
“I think it plays really well, especially since I have good extension,” he said. “So it’s coming out at a weird angle and it’s coming out at around 6-8, 7 feet (extension).”
He said his above-average extension comes naturally because of his long legs and long arms.
“So just getting down the mound. And a big thing with me is just finishing the pitch,” he said. “Finishing the pitch is huge for me. And just thinking (about) finishing the pitch just gets me down the mound further.”
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His Baseball America scouting report notes , “He has a deeper arsenal for a lefty reliever, attacking hitters with two mid-90s fastballs, a two-plane mid-80s slider and a mid-to-upper-80s changeup.”
“Sometimes it (the slider) is more sweepy and more depthy and other times when I want it to be sharper, I can make it sharper,” Samaniego said.
He’s able to make it sharper with a little bit more of a pressure point grip of the baseball while also throwing it with more intent.
“The sweeper can be a touch slower,” he said. “But I like that one more against lefties.”
He said the changeup is a good pitch when he sees hitters cheating up to the fastball.
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“I think it’s important to mix a changeup into lefty or righty,” he said.
He held lefties to a .151 batting average and averaged 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings against them last year. He held righties to a .244 batting average and averaged 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings against them.
“I don’t feel any different between left and right,” he said. ”I don’t attack them the same obviously, but I have like the same amount of confidence for left and right.”
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