Angel Bastardo Has Earned the Trust of Chad Tracy, but His Red Sox Debut Is Still A Ways Off

[Nick John]

Following the 2024 Rule 5 Draft, there was little hope for Angel Bastardo to return to the Boston Red Sox organization. Despite having Tommy John surgery in June of 2024 and expected to miss all of 2025, the Blue Jays still took a flier on the right-hander. It was a surprise to some, as Bastardo had struggled since being promoted to Portland near the end of the 2023 season, having gone 0-6 with a 5.28 ERA in 13 starts between 2023 and 2024.

The Blue Jays planned to have him potentially be in the bullpen for 2026, but after a spring training where he flashed potential but couldn’t quite put it all together for the defending American League champions, the team decided to return him to the Red Sox on April 1 after designating him for assignment.

On April 21, he finally made his return to the mound as a member of the Red Sox. The right-hander tossed one inning out of the bullpen, walking two while striking out three batters. There were some moments of wildness from the pitcher, and by the end of the outing he had thrown 27 pitches.

“The ball just jumps out of his hand, so I was pretty excited,” former Worcester manager Chad Tracy explained when asked if anything really stood out during Bastardo’s Triple-A debut. “The first hitter I was seeing a bunch of 97 [miles per hour]. I’m like, this is a great looking arm.”

It wasn’t all positives for Bastardo, however, as rust was prevalent for the pitcher as noted by Tracy. Of the 27 pitches he threw, 12 of them were balls and he did end up throwing some non-competitive pitches.

“He did lose some balls, like up arm side for some non-competitive fastballs. I mostly attribute that to it being his first outing, so we got to keep an eye on that as we go forward,” Tracy continued to explain about the young pitcher. In the outing, there were multiple opportunities to get out of the inning sooner than he did, but the young pitcher still managed to escape the frame without allowing a run to score. The Worcester manager was overall impressed with the outing, especially from a stuff standpoint along with the way the ball.

If Bastardo can consistently throw strikes and have his stuff look as it did in his debut on a regular basis, there is a real shot he could make it to the major leagues one day. Despite it being over a year since he had his surgery, the team will be cautious with Bastardo.

“He threw one inning [on Tuesday], Saturday we got him scheduled for a couple innings. I don’t think it’s gonna be 45 pitches or anything, but he will. We’re looking for multiple ups. I don’t have the full thing but I know initially a lot of his outings will be picked and scripted out, rather than like most of my bullpen where if they’re up we can use them whenever. We’ll lay out his [Bastardo’s] days right now,” Tracy detailed on April 24 when asked what the plan might be for Bastardo as he builds up his pitch count and gets stretched out.

Don't expect him to immediately go back to starting, as Tracy turned down the idea. At least for right now.

“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to our front office about that like, I think that could be possible, but I don’t think it’s in the immediate plans right now. It’s mostly just stretching out outings as a reliever and getting built up appropriately before we say now you can just be used as a normal reliever."

Overall on the season, the young right-hander has appeared in five games, tossing 8 2/3 innings while allowing four earned runs. Over that span, he's struck out 13 batters while walking six.

As a pitcher, Bastardo relies on a four-pitch mix with his four-seam fastball making up over half of his pitch usage at 52.3%. His changeup is used 32.6% of the time while the slider is used 12.8% and his curveball makes up the remaining 2.3%. Of the four pitches, his changeup may be his best pitch; through his first few outings this year, batters had a .187 xwOBA and a .150 xSLG against it.

Despite making just a few appearances thus far while working back to full strength, Bastardo could be a valuable piece for the Worcester bullpen as they deal with a fluctuating roster. Should Bastardo continue to thrive in Triple-A while rediscovering the form that made him a Rule 5 pick in the first place, he could quickly be on the radar of Tracy in Boston.

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[mvp 78]

I think throwing strikes is really a big deal for Bastardo. His WHIP through the first 5 outings was 1.73. His last outing was his first clean outing of the year. I think he's not really close to being on the radar for a callup. They probably give him the full year to work back to normal and make a 40 man decision prior to the draft. 

He hasn't really shoved yet and the BOS bullpen could really use a guy like him. It's probably just not his time this year.