{"id":58112,"date":"2025-05-28T11:19:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=58112"},"modified":"2025-05-28T11:19:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:19:48","slug":"boston-red-sox-prospect-local-kid-dominating-feels-extra-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=58112","title":{"rendered":"Boston Red Sox prospect (local kid) dominating, feels \u2018extra\u2019 motivation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shea Sprague grew up in a home where the small kitchen TV was tuned into the Red Sox game every evening. Chris Sale was the left-hander\u2019s favorite pitcher.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old prospect \u2014 who hails from Hanover and graduated from BC High \u2014 is now not only pitching for the organization he grew up watching every day. He\u2019s also pitching well. Really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unreal,\u201d Sprague said by phone Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true. And I think it\u2019s a little extra motivating for me every day waking up and getting to put on the Red Sox logo and keep trying to get better so I can get to Fenway. Can\u2019t ask for anything more. It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston selected the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder in the 13th round out of UNC last July.<\/p>\n

His first two outings this season for the Low-A Salem Red Sox didn\u2019t go well. He allowed nine earned runs in 5 \u2154 innings. Since then, he has given up only four runs in 24 \u2154 innings (1.46 ERA) over five outings. He has allowed just 17 hits and six walks while striking out 28. Opponents are batting .163 against him this month.<\/p>\n

He had 17 swings-and-misses in 5 innings against Fredericksburg on April 29 and 14 in 4 \u2154 innings against Fayetteville on May 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I just settled in, started going after guys,\u201d Sprague said. \u201cKind of went through a similar preseason, early-season struggle last year at UNC, trying to be too cute. But I just started going at guys and trusting my stuff. So that\u2019s probably been the biggest change. Nothing major.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sprague throws his fastball with a four-seam grip but he added, \u201cI just call it a fastball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a four-seam fastball but it\u2019s kind of more like a sinker in shape,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s got some run to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sprague \u2014 who throws from a three-quarters arm slot \u2014 also has a changeup, slider and sweeper.<\/p>\n

His changeup has been his best pitch since high school and it induces swing-and-miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got\u200apretty good depth and good change of speed,\u201d Sprague said. \u201cAnd then obviously throwing it for so many years you just develop a lot of feel for it and confidence to throw it in any count. So I think that\u2019s the biggest thing with me. I have a lot of confidence in it and good feel for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He learned his changeup from former BC High teammate, Sean O\u2019Connell. The two buddies also played together at Elon University before Sprague transferred to UNC.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe taught me when I was a sophomore in high school,\u201d Sprague said.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox introduced a gyro slider to Sprague when he reported to Fort Myers after he signed following the draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to throw that a lot and it\u2019s come along nicely,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then just trying to get opportunities to throw the sweeper in-game more to get more feel for it and obviously develop more confidence in it, which will be big against lefties.\u201d<\/p>\n

He used to call his sweeper \u201ca slider\u201d in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the movement profile of it, it\u2019s always been a sweeper,\u201d Sprague said. \u201cJust like a bigger shape to it. With the Red Sox, they wanted me to develop a gyro slider, which is just a smaller shape and a little bit harder. So that one has really been where I\u2019ve been putting a lot of my focus on \u2014 just developing that.”<\/p>\n

The two pitches complement each other, giving hitters two different breaking ball looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gyro works to both lefties and righties just to get ahead or to put guys out and then you lean on the sweeper more against lefties as a put-out pitch because the shape\u2019s a little bigger,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of harder to land at least for me at this point. They both serve their purposes but sweeper is a bigger swing-and-miss pitch. And then the slider is a good utility pitch to have to both (lefties and righties).\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the gyro slider is listed as one of his player development goals and he called it \u201cone of his biggest priorities.\u201d A lot of time and effort has been put into it.<\/p>\n

Sprague had reverse splits in college and it\u2019s continued in pro ball. The lefty has been more effective against right-handed hitters than left-handed hitters. As he said, the sweeper is important against left-handed hitters.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that I\u2019m having a hard time but having a harder time compared to righties, getting them out,\u201d Sprague said. \u201cBut continuing to develop that slider and then as we go and we get comfortable with that, moving on and developing a sweeper that should neutralize that and those numbers will probably even out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another player development goal is adding velocity. His fastball velo has been in the 89-92 mph range recently. He hopes to get in the 92-94 mph range or 93-95 mph range within the next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Red Sox stress to us just the importance of velocity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s doing Plyo ball drills to increase velocity.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I think a lot of velocity comes from physical development, so just getting bigger, stronger, faster,\u201c he said. \u201dAnd just throwing more intent more often. Workload and all that stuff. So they have it down to a science and they\u2019re good about it. It just comes with time, keep working hard and keep throwing hard.”<\/p>\n

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