Young relievers looking sharp

Written by Rob Munstis | 03 March 2009

The Red Sox bullpen is already one of the deepest in baseball with Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito, Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, Javy Lopez and, most likely, Justin Masterson.

But the Red Sox have even more quality arms in the farm system. Daniel Bard's 100-mph fastball garnered interest from other clubs this offseason and has made him a popular talking piece this spring. And recent Japanese acquisition, Junichi Tazawa has been impressing Terry Francona with his ability to adjust to America.

Assistant GM Ben Cherrington on Bard: "The way his arms works is about how you draw it up. It's clean, it's efficient and it works. Anybody who saw him in college saw the easiest 97 mph you ever saw. Most guys who are throwing that hard, you see the effort. But when he's right, finishing it right, and he's confident, that manifests into stuff that's really hard to hit."

"The stuff is undeniable," said pitching coach John Farrell, "as far as being able to pitch at the major league level. He's as good a pitching prospect as you're going to find."

Francona said Bard has been "driving the ball down" and that has resulted in ground outs and strikeouts. Bard has not allowed a hit or a run in two innings of work against major league teams and already has two K's on the books.

Francona has also been impressed with 22 year-old Junich Tazawa: "At first blush, there's a lot there to like."

"I think he's going to be a really special kid," Josh Bard said after catching Tazawa yesterday. "He can throw to both sides of the plate, his slider is really special and he's got a good split, too. You don't want to get too ahead of yourself, and obviously he's got to stay healthy and still do a lot of things, but that's about as good a young pitcher as I've seen in a while."

"I guess I didn't quite expect him to be this polished," Francona said. "We've only seen him for a few outings, but he seems to know what he's doing. It's going to be really fun to watch his progression because there's a lot there."

Sean McAdam also had this tid bit from a side session Tazawa threw with Jason Varitek last week:

His command has caught [the coaches] attention, too. Last week, Tazawa threw a side session to Jason Varitek and was instructed to throw each of his 20 pitches to where the catcher had set up his target. On 17 of the 20 pitches, Varitek's glove never moved.

"Tazawa-bunga" (I'm determined to make that nick name stick!) has only faced college level players so far this spring, but he is scheduled to pitch against the Cincinnati Reds today...

Tazawa and Bard are set to start the 2009 season in Double A Portland, but Bard could prove worthy of a spot with Pawtucket.

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