TORONTO — As the Red Sox start to imagine a reconfigured bullpen for 2025, a young pitcher is making a late-season push to be a part of it.
Luis Guerrero has had an eye-opening start to his big league career. The 24-year-old has yet to allow an earned run in seven games spanning 7⅔ innings, striking out eight while walking just two. His fastball — which averages 97.4 miles per hour, fastest by a Red Sox pitcher this year — has been a swing-and-miss pitch, and he’s been able to finish righties with his slider and lefties with his changeup.
He’s shown the stuff and the willingness to challenge hitters to suggest a potential impact reliever.
“My mentality is relaxed. The pitching coach said your stuff is [expletive] nasty. Throw it for strikes. That’s where I have my mentality right now. Come into the game and let’s go,” said Guerrero. “I have velo, I have a breaking ball that’s nasty that I can throw for strikes, and if they hit it, I have good defense at my back.”
Pitching coach Andrew Bailey noted that Guerrero has located his four-seamer at the top of the zone, allowing his secondary pitches to play off of it. Bailey said Guerrero has benefited from the tutelage of veteran teammate Luis García, and has shown rapid growth that bodes well.
“He’s got the tenacity and grit to be a back-end arm,” said Bailey. “It’s very exciting for the future of the Red Sox. For him to continue to get exposure in those high leverage moments, it’s exciting.”
Guerrero said he welcomes any role — single inning or multi-innings, and pitching at any point in the game, but that he relishes the thought of closing.
“There’s more energy from the fans. The game changes,” he beamed of the ninth. “I like that. I like that. I like that.”
Making contact
With Wednesday’s 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays, the Sox lineup has limited its strikeouts to eight or fewer in five straight games — the longest stretch of the year. After a 6-5 Red Sox win on Tuesday in Toronto, manager Alex Cora suggested the team’s offensive dynamics had changed since Rafael Devers was shut down to because of inflammation in his left shoulder.
On Wednesday, he clarified the meaning of that remark.
“It’s the personnel,” said Cora. “Raffy wasn’t healthy. Raffy was grinding and whenever Raffy played the last month and a half, he was striking out in the middle of the order, hitting second and fourth. [Tyler O’Neill, who has a 33 percent strikeout rate this year] hasn’t played that much the last four or five games. And we got [Nick Sogard] and we got Romy [Gonzalez].
“It’s different personnel. It’s not like now [the team has changed philosophies]. If we’re [doing] that shame on me — we should have said that since Opening Day, ‘Let’s put the ball in play.’ This is our DNA. We’re going to strike out. Right now [Vaughn Grissom] puts the ball in play, [Sogard] puts the ball in play, and the guys are doing a good job. It’s a different lineup than Friday.”
Switching it up
In the batting cage on Wednesday afternoon, Trevor Story was hammering balls while batting lefthanded. Story said he used to be a switch-hitter in high school but gave up the practice after breaking his left foot in his junior year. But he continues to take lefthanded swings in the cage in order to maintain balance in his body … While several Red Sox pitched in back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday, a number of them informed Cora of their availability for Wednesday — including 38-year-old Chris Martin, who had never pitched on three consecutive days over a big league career spanning parts of nine seasons. “Marty said he’s good to go, whatever it takes,” said Cora. “We’re trying.”
Fall call
The Red Sox will send eight players to the Arizona Fall League to play for the Mesa Solar Sox, a contingent that will include catcher Brooks Brannon (a player who hits the ball as hard as anyone in the their system, but who has missed development time the last two years because of injuries), infielder Max Ferguson, outfielder Caden Rose, righthanders Cooper Adams, Danny Kirwin, Connor Steinbaugh, and Tyler Uberstine, and lefthander Zach Fogell … Former Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia was announced as the new manager of the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape League, succeeding Jeff Trundy, who spent 25 years as head coach of the Commodores.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.