Prior to the 2024 season, Jordan Hicks\u2019 free agency came down to two teams: the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox.<\/p>\n
The Giants wound up inking Hicks to a four-year, $44 million contract, but the Red Sox still made a strong impression on the\u00a0flamethrowing right-hander.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came after me pretty hard and they were in on me,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cIt was between them and the Giants, so I\u2019m excited to be here and feel wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Sox eventually got their man anyway, acquiring Hicks along with left-hander Kyle Harrison and two prospects in the Rafael Devers blockbuster. Hicks was on the 15-day injured list at the time of the deal with right toe inflammation but is expected to be activated during this week\u2019s series against the Cincinnati Reds, providing a huge boost to Boston\u2019s bullpen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little bit surprised, I didn\u2019t even know you could get traded on the IL,\u201d Hicks said of his reaction to the trade. \u201cBut besides that I was really excited to hear that it was a team that was pursuing me in free agency and that I get to be part of a young squad and I\u2019m just really excited to play for this historic organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of baseball\u2019s hardest throwers, Hicks boasts a fastball that regularly tops 100 mph and prior to his free agency ranked among the game\u2019s most overpowering relievers. Hicks had a particularly dominant 2023 season in which he struck out 81 batters over 65.2 innings split between the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays, and upon signing with the Giants he attempted to move into the starting rotation.<\/p>\n
That experiment didn\u2019t work out. Last season Hicks posted a 4.01 ERA in 20 starts before eventually being moved back to the bullpen, and this year he had a 6.55 ERA through nine starts, after which point the Giants pulled the plug.<\/p>\n
Upon his return from the IL the expectation is Hicks will return to his previous bullpen role, serving as Boston\u2019s primary eighth-inning set-up man to bridge the gap to closer Aroldis Chapman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited for the opportunity, I kind of got to try out the starting thing, would have liked a longer leash but at the same time I\u2019m excited to help the team any way I can,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI know what I can bring to the table I just needed a little adjustment period coming from the starter, so it was a good IL stint in that aspect and I feel like I\u2019m coming back to bullpen form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hicks said since joining the Red Sox the coaches have been working with him to refine his pitch mix, and one of the biggest adjustments he\u2019s made is abandoning his sweeper, which he previously threw 32% of the time, in favor of a harder slider he says pairs better with his higher velocity fastball.<\/p>\n
He also said he has no preference to what role in the bullpen he serves, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora says he\u2019ll be a huge help, especially with right-hander Justin Slaten expected to miss at least another month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re missing Slaten so now we\u2019ve got somebody who\u2019s done that with good stuff,\u201d Cora said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got Chapman, Hicks, Weissert, Whitlock, Wilson, and the other guys fall into their roles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houck struggles again<\/p>\n
Tanner Houck (right flexor pronator strain) struggled again in his latest rehab outing with Triple-A Worcester, allowing four runs on seven hits, one walk and two home runs with three strikeouts.<\/p>\n
Houck came out of the bullpen in the second inning following an opener, which Cora said was done to try and give Houck something of a change of scenery. The right-hander posted two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the bottom of the fourth, allowing four runs on a pair of home runs. He came back out for the fifth and recorded two more outs before leaving following a single. He threw 65 pitches, 42 for strikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prior to the 2024 season, Jordan Hicks\u2019 free agency came down to two teams: the San Francisco Giants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,162,204,4,863,89,2543,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-140177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-giants","13":"tag-jordan-hicks","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-rafael-devers","16":"tag-red-sox","17":"tag-redsox","18":"tag-san-francisco-giants"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114768276759166963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}