DET
Tanner Houck, P
Edit player ✎
Baseball Reference →
FanGraphs →
MLB →
Scouting report
After the Red Sox asked him to take a mechanical detour early in 2018, Houck's arm slot migrated south again, back to where it lived when he was an electric college starter. He finally made his big league debut in 2020 and worked with a two-seamer, four-seamer and slider across three starts, with his fastballs sitting in the 90-96 mph range. Some folks in baseball think he'll be a Justin Masterson-style starter, and perhaps he'll be put in that role as the Sox rebuild, but on a competitive team, I have Houck projected in a multi-inning relief role, and think his velo could climb to the top of that 90-96 band and touch above it in shorter outings. He started working with a splitter last year, and it showed glimpses of bat-missing bottom at the alternate site (he barely used it in major league games). If that pitches develops, then he'll just be able to start, long-term. (Alternate site, MLB)