Boston Red Sox Starter Tanner Houck Among Most Improved

The Boston Red Sox (68-64) may need to start looking toward the future. With only 30 games remaining, their 9.5-game deficit in the American League East and their 4.0-game deficit in the Wild Card may be too much to overcome.

While this season is all but decided for the Red Sox, they have a bright future to look forward to. One piece of that future, right-handed pitcher Tanner Houck , has shown a major step in his improvement this season.

In a recent article from Bleacher Report , Joel Reuter ranked the 10 most improved players in MLB this season. Coming in at sixth place is Houck. Reuter had this to say about the righty:

"Tanner Houck showed flashes during the 2021 and 2022 seasons while filling a variety of roles on the Boston Red Sox staff, posting a 3.35 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 143 strikeouts in 129 innings while tallying six wins and nine saves over 17 starts and 33 relief appearances. He was expected to be a full-time member of the starting rotation during the 2023 season, but he missed more than two months after suffering facial fractures when he was hit with a line drive back through the box. And even when healthy, he failed to match his previous success. The 28-year-old has finally put it all together this season, though, earning an All-Star selection while fronting a Boston rotation that has been significantly better than expected. Refining his splitter as a reliable third offering and throwing the pitch at more than double the frequency he did a year ago has been one of the biggest keys to Houck's newfound success."

2024 has been Houck's first full-length season as a full-time starter for the Red Sox. Over the first half of the season, Houck was spectacular. He pitched to a 2.54 ERA across 117 innings in 19 starts with 112 strikeouts. That's where things would get a little shakey for the righty, however.

Entering the 2024 season, Houck's career-high in innings for a single season was 106, which he reached last year. He surpassed that total in the first half of the season.

Now, at 158 2/3 innings in the season, Houck continues to add to his career-high inning total, but they have not been the best. In seven second-half starts, Houck has pitched to a 5.18 ERA across 41 2/3 innings with only 25 strikeouts.

Houck does continue to pitch six innings consistently, doing so in six of his seven second-half starts. Continuing to pitch such a workload without injury is a good sign for the future, as even though his production has fallen off due to fatigue, he is building that career high to a point where he can easily reach it again next season with no worries.

Houck was fantastic in the first half of the season. If he can provide the Red Sox with that level of production for a full season next year and beyond, he could be a perennial Cy Young contender.