Meet new Red Sox pitcher Jack Anderson

**Who is he and where did he come from?**

He’s Jack Anderson. The Red Sox have had to go to the 40-man roster earlier in the season than they would have liked, to the tune of bringing four guys up from Worcester so far, three of whom have made their Major League debut (four total if you count Rule 5 pick Ryan Watson.) Anderson, a 26-year old Florida State Seminole, is the latest addition. He was drafted by the Tigers in 2021, and was acquired by the Red Sox in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft two years ago, arriving in Double-A Portland. He made his Major League debut to stop the bleeding after a shaky Sonny Grey start and looked damn good doing so for most of it. He struck out the side in his first inning of work, got one more strikeout for a total of four, and only suffered a hit given up by a home run, finishing out 3 innings solidly.

**Is he any good?**

The same answer I’ve given on every debut this season: he could be. At 6’3”, 197, Anderson doesn’t quite fit the archetype of huge lefty with velocity that Craig Breslow clamors over, and that’s okay. His fastball, albeit slow, topping out at 93 miles per hour, has 19 inches of vertical break, which means Andrew Bailey is no doubt drooling over it. Also interesting is that Anderson came up through the minors as a multi-inning reliever; out of 149 minor league appearances, he started just ten, and even all of those within the last 12 months. I think it’s fitting for Anderson to be in that multi-inning, low-leverage relief role, as that’s what he was a majority of the time in Portland last year, his best season as a pro, where he logged 75 innings at the Double-A level, striking 90 out and walking 18. Upon his callup to Triple-A, he showed the same command of the strike zone but did get hit around a little more, but it seemed to vastly improve to start 2026. Knock on wood; he hasn’t hit a batter since 2024, when he was down in Double-A. In general, he tends to not give up many walks, period.