Why Former Top Pitching Prospect Made ‘Push’ To Join Red Sox
Sean Newcomb had some options when determining his next baseball home this offseason.
The former top pitching prospect with the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves said he had a “handful” of teams show interest in him. But Newcomb really only had one destination in mind and it wasn’t far from where he grew up in Middleboro, Mass.
It all ended up coming to fruition like Newcomb hoped as the Boston Red Sox announced last week they signed the 6-foot-5, 255-pound left-handed pitcher to a minor league contract to go along with a non-roster invitation to spring training.
“Kind of off the bat, I was feeling like it was time to give it a shot to try to sign with them,” Newcomb told NESN.com. “It’s the dream and you don’t really ever lose that little piece where you want to play for your hometown team, especially coming and playing here as the visiting team it’s cool, but playing for the home team would always be fulfilling that dream. So, I was giving my agent a little bit of a push toward talking to the Sox.”
Newcomb, 31, threw a bullpen session earlier this month at Champion Physical Therapy and Performance in Waltham, Mass., which the Red Sox attended.
The Red Sox evidently liked what they saw out of Newcomb, who is fully recovered from meniscus surgery he underwent in both knees prior to last season. And Newcomb didn’t need much convincing that the Red Sox were the right fit for him.
“I was just leaning Red Sox the whole time,” Newcomb said.
Landing in the Red Sox organization might be the perfect place for Newcomb to get his career back on track. He was released from the Oakland Athletics in July of last season after seven relief appearances in which he allowed seven runs in 10 innings. He did show promise with the A’s in 2023, but his best seasons in the big leagues came in 2018 and 2019 with the Braves. Newcomb made 30 starts and won 12 games for Atlanta in 2018 before making 55 appearances — 51 of those came out of the bullpen — the next year while boasting a 3.16 ERA.
Getting the chance to live out a dream wasn’t the only reason Newcomb wanted to play for Boston, though. His roots in the region make him well-versed not only in the history of the franchise but also in the rabid fan base that he once was a part of as a kid.
“Anytime you can join a team that’s looking to obviously win and be a competitor and be one of those big-market teams. Those are the teams that you want to play for. The teams that have the history and the fan base, all that kind of stuff,” Newcomb said. “It makes it a lot more exciting and been pretty lucky with that so far. I definitely want to be a part of that.”