![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_7174.jpg\")
Red Sox assistant director of pitching Quinn Cleary. (Mac Cerullo\/Boston Herald)<\/p>\nFORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Over the past few years the Red Sox pitching program has been completely transformed.<\/p>\n
Since Craig Breslow took over as chief baseball officer, the Red Sox have gone from one of the worst organizations at developing young pitchers to one of the best, and now the club is overflowing with talented arms who are already making their mark in the majors.<\/p>\n
That hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed, and this past offseason one of the people most responsible for executing the club\u2019s turnaround \u2014 former director of pitching Justin Willard \u2014 was hired away by the New York Mets to be their new major league pitching coach.<\/p>\n
Now the Red Sox are handing the baton to two others, who they hope can keep the train rolling and ensure the club\u2019s pitching pipeline keeps flowing.<\/p>\n
This winter the Red Sox promoted Ben Buck to succeed Willard as the club\u2019s director of pitching while also hiring away Quinn Cleary from the Seattle Mariners to serve as his No. 2. The two have already begun working to make their mark on the organization, though both emphasized that the Red Sox already have a solid foundation in place and that they plan to continue emphasizing Willard\u2019s core tenet of \u201cthrowing nasty stuff in the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the mantra,\u201d Buck said. \u201cBecause it is simple to say, our guys remember it, and you can branch off from each one of those words and they become very complex.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect one sentence one-liner that really sums up the two big components of being a successful pitcher in the majors,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n
Buck earned his promotion after just one year with the organization, joining the Red Sox as a pitching coordinator following the 2024 season after previously serving in a similar role with the New York Yankees. Upon coming to Boston, Buck worked closely with many of the Red Sox\u2019s top pitching prospects, including Payton Tolle, one of the club\u2019s biggest recent minor league success stories who rose from High-A to the majors in just his first year of professional baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time that I talked to him or heard him talk about pitching, I was a lot dumber then (than I am now),\u201d Tolle said of Buck. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the smartest guys that I\u2019ve ever been around in the baseball world so to now have him as the head of development, it\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another Red Sox pitcher who Buck has worked with is Garrett Whitlock, serving as the future Red Sox right-hander\u2019s pitching coach during his rookie ball days as a Yankees farmhand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s going to be great for the organization,\u201d Whitlock said. \u201cHe\u2019s a very good pitching mind. He\u2019s going to bring a lot of wisdom to the table when it comes to the movement side of things, the preparation, how to build up arms, that kind of thing. He\u2019s very, very good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before making the jump to the professional coaching ranks, Buck spent 15 years as a college coach after playing collegiately at Lamar Community College in Colorado and at the University of Utah. He also played a year of independent baseball before spending two years away from the sport working in a poker room, first as a dealer and then as the boss.<\/p>\n
That job prepared him for coaching in ways you wouldn\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of skills that I learned from poker and from running a poker room that I still use to this day,\u201d Buck said. \u201cWe had a VIP list of something like 280 VIPs, so attributing people\u2019s names to their faces and not forgetting. Dealing with conflict, like for them this is higher stakes, it\u2019s win or lose money. In some regards (baseball is) win or lose money. They\u2019re putting themselves on the line thinking in bets. What are you willing to risk? What is not worth the risk? And how aggressive are you? How unaggressive are you? All these are transferable skills to life and this job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red Sox assistant director of pitching Quinn Cleary. (Mac Cerullo\/Boston Herald)<\/p>\n
Cleary\u2019s journey to the Red Sox is equally fascinating.<\/p>\n
Just 26 years old, Cleary is only a few years removed from his college playing days at Yale. He has quickly risen through the front office ranks since, first interning at Cressey Sports Performance before landing with the Philadelphia Phillies and then the Mariners, with whom he served as pitching coordinator.<\/p>\n
This past offseason the Red Sox hired him as their new assistant director of pitching and head pitching strategist, specifically requesting permission from the Mariners to interview him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a great hire,\u201d Buck said. \u201cSharp mind, huge feel, I can\u2019t imagine being as young as he is, as smart as he is, with as much feel as he has.\u201d<\/p>\n
How has he done it at such a young age?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a combination of being in the right place at the right time,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to learn from a lot of really good people at all the stops I\u2019ve been at. I hope to continue to do that here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cleary also has a fascinating family history. His grandfather, Bill Cleary, was a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team and was the longtime men\u2019s hockey coach and athletic director at Harvard. His parents were both Harvard athletes too, and his three brothers all attended Harvard as well.<\/p>\n
Naturally, Cleary going to rival Yale was a bit of a departure from the family tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am like truly the black sheep of my family,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cWe joke that I sit at a different table at Thanksgiving but other than that it\u2019s not too bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cleary described his new role as a hybrid front office and coaching\/player development role that helps with both the majors league and minor leagues. He will also be among those assisting injured big leaguers with their rehab process, and he said he hopes to add value wherever he can.<\/p>\n
Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said Buck and Cleary have both been great to work with so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been fantastic, the communication lines are really solid,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cA lot of bright ideas and thoughts and visions, and what\u2019s really good is the open-mindedness and the ability to listen and take in information and what\u2019s worked and what hasn\u2019t worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
With three pitchers ranked inside Baseball America\u2019s Top 100 Prospects list and a huge crop of young arms coming up from the past two years\u2019 pitcher-heavy draft classes, Buck and Cleary find themselves in a much different situation than the one Breslow and Willard inherited after the 2023 season. They said a lot of smart people put in a lot of work to help get the club\u2019s pitching program on the right track, and they hope to build on that progress in the months and years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustin did such an amazing job when he was here of laying this unbelievable foundation, things are really going in a real good direction and our job is to search for the one percents and two percents to keep improving,\u201d Buck said. \u201cIt\u2019s less about change and more about continuing on the path where evolution can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP26058743826761.jpg\")
Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello will take the mound in his native Dominican Republic this Wednesday ahead of the World Baseball Classic. (AP Photo\/Gerald Herbert)
\nBello\u2019s big homecoming<\/p>\n
Years from now Brayan Bello probably won\u2019t remember his first two starts of spring training, but you can be sure he\u2019ll never forget his next one.<\/p>\n
This Wednesday the Red Sox right-hander will take the mound for Team Dominican Republic in a pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition against the Detroit Tigers at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. Bello has never pitched at the historic stadium before, and getting to pitch there will mark a special homecoming for the 26-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be my first time after I was a big leaguer that I\u2019m getting to pitch in the Dominican Republic in front of my friends and family, in front of my home country,\u201d Bello said Friday via interpreter Carlos Villoria Ben\u00edtez. \u201cFor me it\u2019s going to be very emotional, I\u2019m very excited to be able to pitch there and I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A native of Samana, a town roughly two and a half hours away from the Dominican Republic\u2019s capital city, Bello hopes to help pitch his country to its second World Baseball Classic title. The Dominican team previously won it all in 2013 and this year features All-Star standouts like Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., among others.<\/p>\n
Hometown kids coming up<\/p>\n
Almost anyone who grows up playing baseball around New England dreams of one day playing for the Red Sox, and this spring several local standouts hope to take the next step in their journey towards making that dream a reality.<\/p>\n
Shea Sprague and Jack Winnay, both recent draft picks by the Red Sox with Boston-area ties, are among the many minor leaguers populating the Fenway South complex this spring. Sprague, a BC High alum from Hanover who starred at the University of North Carolina, is entering his second full professional season after being selected as a 13th-round pick in 2024. Winnay, a Newton resident who starred at Belmont Hill and Wake Forest, is in his first spring training after going as a 13th-round pick himself last summer.<\/p>\n
Brian Abraham, the Red Sox\u2019s senior director of player development, said the organization is really excited about both, noting that the pair also played for the same travel ball club as his son, North East Baseball.<\/p>\n
Sprague appeared in 22 games in his first pro season, earning a promotion from Low-A to High-A along the way and finishing with a 3.82 ERA in 96 2\/3 innings, which was the eighth-highest innings total of any Red Sox minor leaguer.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally good pitchability,\u201d Abraham said of the 23-year-old lefty. \u201cTrying to increase his fastball velo, because he already has a good pitch mix and has a good way on the mound with his mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winnay debuted as a professional weeks after being drafted and made a strong first impression, batting .321 with a home run, three doubles and 11 RBI in only 15 games at Low-A Salem. The 22-year-old infielder will be a candidate to start this season at High-A, and Friday he was among a handful of minor leaguers who traveled up to North Port with the big league club.<\/p>\n
\u201cJack has been playing mostly third but can play first, has really good power, moves well, really exciting I think,\u201d Abraham said. \u201cA lot of tools that we like and value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burt signs with Tigers<\/p>\n
North Andover\u2019s Max Burt, a former St. John\u2019s Prep and Northeastern University standout, signed with the Detroit Tigers as a minor league free agent this past week. The longtime New York Yankees minor leaguer spent his first eight professional seasons with the organization, playing the majority of that time at Double-A Somerset.<\/p>\n
According to the Somerset Patriots, Burt departs as the team\u2019s all-time franchise leader in hits (241), runs (179) and games played (361). The 29-year-old will now get a fresh start as he looks to make a push to the majors with a new organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Over the past few years the Red Sox pitching program has been completely transformed.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[144003,64,63,256354,5156,30848,256357,70574,256358,256356,256360,591,256355,16088,256359,85,28168],"class_list":["post-511782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-andrew-bailey","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-buck","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-brayan-bello","tag-director-of-pitching","tag-harvard","tag-jack-winnay","tag-justin-willard","tag-max-burt","tag-mlb","tag-quinn-cleary","tag-red-sox","tag-shea-sprague","tag-sports","tag-yale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}