Tanner Houck's Surprising Return Gives Red Sox Another Playoff Bullpen Option To Consider

[Nick John]

A whopping 503 days. That was the time frame between Tanner Houck’s last start in the major leagues and his start in game 162 of this season. The right-hander missed significant time after an attempted rehab assignment in 2025 ultimately led to Tommy John surgery back in August of 2025.

Despite the timeline for Tommy John surgery typically taking close to a full season before a pitcher can begin throwing seriously in a rehab assignment, Houck had a plan in place for being back on a mound and throwing meaningful innings by the end of September of this season. To get there, he worked extremely hard, getting into rehab assignments with Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester before their respective seasons concluded.

And after just over 12 months of rehab and recovery, Houck kept to his word. The right-hander was given the start for the Boston Red Sox's final game before the playoffs and showed flashes of his past dominance. Tossing three innings, Houck took the loss as he allowed three runs (all of them on two Alex Bregman home runs) on four hits while not walking a batter and getting one strikeout. In the outing, he tossed exactly 50 pitches, roughly what he threw during his rehab appearances.

Despite the positive stat line for a pitcher making his first start in over a year and a half, there were some concerns for Houck, namely that his velocity was down from even 2025, a sign that the right-hander is still working on ramping back up. His sinker, which he threw 15 times yesterday, averaged just 92.4 mph compared to its 94.5 mph from the 2025 season. Even his four-seam fastball saw a decline of almost two mph as it averaged 93.3 mph compared to 95 mph in 2025. The right-hander also struggled to miss bats, getting just one whiff out of 24 swings by the Chicago Cubs.

Despite that, he still showcased some positives that could help his chance of being on the playoff roster. Despite giving up a home run early in the game to Bregman, Houck didn’t fall apart. Instead, the right-hander followed that up by retiring seven of the next eight batters he faced, giving the offense a chance to get back into the game. That string of retired batters was then broken up with one out in the third inning as Bregman took a sweeper that caught too much of the plate and deposited it into left field to put the Cubs back ahead 3-2. Houck then finished his outing by getting the next two batters out before giving way to the bullpen for the fourth inning.

Despite taking the loss in what would eventually be a 6-2 Cubs win, Houck was around where he should be in his return from injury. Not completely dominant, but good enough to give the team a chance to win with his outing. Outside of his two mistakes to Bregman, Houck only allowed two hits, both of them singles. In a relief role, that would be a welcomed performance if he can limit the long balls, especially with the Red Sox having lost Tyron Guerrero right before the playoffs.

While it might not seem likely for Houck to make the playoff roster, the sudden loss of Guerrero opens a path for the right-hander. While his velocity is nothing in comparison to the flamethrower, Houck has experience out of the bullpen as he served as closer briefly in 2022, earning eight saves before an injury ended his season. That’s not even talking about how in the 2021 playoffs he came out of the bullpen five times. Despite the struggles he had that season, the experience would be appreciated for a bullpen that, outside of Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock, has very minimal playoff experience.

He may not look like a high-leverage reliever at the moment, but he could help shorten the game and bridge the gap to the back-end of the bullpen. As a bulk reliever, he could be relied upon to take the ball from one of the starting pitchers and hand it to an arm like Whitlock or even Erik Miller who will be asked to step up with the loss of Guerrero. In his lone outing this year, Houck surrendered six hard hit balls, though two of them were the home runs he surrendered. Of the remaining four, only one (the first hit he allowed all game) turned into a hit. With the defense Boston has lined up behind him, Houck could be able to allow a hard hit ball here or there and still mitigate the damage. 

The biggest concern, however, is the velocity, which will limit his ability to get swings and misses. Everyone knows the age-old thought that velocity plays in the postseason—just look back at the 2018 Red Sox roster that had a bullpen containing Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree. With Houck being in the low to mid-90s at the moment, the team could decide to turn their attention to a harder thrower.

Whatever decision the Red Sox make with Houck, it’s a positive sign that he stepped back onto a major-league mound as quickly as he did. His future is a lot less murky with his return officially in the books.

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