The Boston Red Sox reportedly traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. That’s not a sentence I ever thought I would type, but here we are.
The natural reaction to that news is, “What is happening? Is this real?” Now that the dust has settled and the trade appears to be real, the next question is “What did we get?”
The answer to the latter is Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, and two prospects. Harrison is the centerpiece of the return. He’s a 23-year-old left-handed pitcher in his third major league season.
Harrison has a 4.56 ERA over eight appearances. He began the year in Triple-A after a virus slowed his buildup, but has since returned to the rotation. The numbers on the surface may not be pretty, but let’s look under the hood to see Harrison’s potential.
Harrison is a fastball-heavy pitcher, and for good reason. His heater has averaged 95 MPH with great extension this year. His low release point also creates a flat attack angle, helping him miss bats at a high rate. Righties in particular have had a hard time hitting Harrison’s fastball.
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After the fastball, there isn’t a ton that jumps off the page, but there’s potential. Harrison uses a curveball as his primary offspeed pitch. He throws the ball in the zone often and earned a ton of called strikes, but hasn’t missed a ton of bats. When hitters do make contact, it’s fairly loud. The 51% ideal contact rate against the curveball in 2024 is significantly higher than you’d like in a breaking ball.
Harrison also uses a changeup. He hasn’t shown a great feel for it in the past, but he’s commanded it better with limited usage in 2025. Similar to the curveball, contact against the pitch has been hard. In his most recent outing, he spotted the ball to the armside and low consistently, which is an incredibly encouraging sign.
Harrison’s fastball is a great baseline for a starting pitcher, but the supporting cast isn’t there yet. The changeup has flashed potential, but it’s too early to call it an established pitch. “Just add a cutter” is advice that’s always relevant and would probably benefit the lefty. He threw a cutter-ish slider earlier in his career in a limited capacity, but didn’t have the feel for it to stick.
According to Hunter Noll, the Red Sox will option Harrison to Triple-A Worcester to begin his Red Sox tenure. It’s difficult to say when he’ll join the team due to a crowded rotation, but his future is in the major leagues. He’s only 23 and hasn’t even hit arbitration yet, so there’s plenty of time for pitching coach Andrew Bailey and his staff to try to tap into his potential.