Everyone loves to hate a relief pitcher. Even the best teams have a “oh great, here comes this guy” guy in the bullpen. For the Boston Red Sox in 2026, that’s Greg Weissert. For some reason, Weissert is the Red Sox’s go-to guy to get out of a jam. That’s partially because they want to save Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman for later innings, and partially because he possesses qualities that should help him with traffic on the bases. Emphasis on should. Which is why I put it in italics, but I’m
emphasizing it again because it’s that important.
What are those qualities, you might ask? Well, for starters relievers, it’s his sinker. Last season, against right-handed hitters, his sinker returned a 57% ground ball rate and 32% ideal contact rate. His four-seam managed a 15% swinging strike rate and 20% putaway rate. His slider also produced strikeouts in nearly one-third of two-strike counts against righties. Those factors combine to give him one pitch to produce ground balls, and two others to use to put away righties away. Against lefties, his changeup racked up ground balls while his four-seam was a reliable strike-getter and avoided hard contact. In 67 innings, Weissert posted a 2.82 ERA and, because I know you’re wondering, allowed 25% of inherited runners to score (54th of 174 qualifiers).
2026 hasn’t gone nearly as well. His ERA sits at 3.67, his strikeout rate is actually up 3.4% while his walk rate remains consistent, but his batting average against is up from .224 to .252. Inherited runners have also been a well-documented problem, with 50% scoring (173 of 205 qualifiers, although the qualifying number is kinda weird, which puts some guys with very few inherited runners on there. Either way, his mark isn’t good.)
Over the last few weeks, things have started to come together for Weissert. He hasn’t allowed an earned run and has stranded all three of the runners he’s inherited over his last five outings. He’s also struck out 7 of 18 hitters and only walked 1. Is it a case of a streaky reliever hitting a hot streak, or are there actual changes?
In this case, it’s a case of a streaky reliever having a good five-game stretch. That’s all. End of article. Thanks for the click.
I’m just messing around to increase my word count. There have obviously been changes, that’s why I’m writing this. Here’s a look at Weissert’s release point from the beginning of the season through his outing on May 28.
And here’s a look from May 29 through today.
You’ll notice there are two clear groupings in the first picture and just one in the second. At first, I thought Weissert was shifting back and forth, trying to find a spot on the mound that would work for him, but as I started digging deeper, I noticed he was actually shifting from side to side based on the hitter. Here are back-to-back hitters against the Minnesota Twins on May 22nd.
Against lefties, he’d stand on the first base side of the rubber, whereas he’d stand on the third base side of the rubber against righties. I still haven’t fully figured out horizontal approach angles, but I’d imagine the numbers say that this is the “optimal” approach for Weissert.
Unfortunately, the numbers are only numbers, and the player has to execute the game plan. Weissert already has a cross-body delivery, which tends to lend itself to inconsistency in command. Asking him to throw from multiple release points is just another variable that makes hitting spots harder. Check out his sinker locations over these two time frames.
It’s a small sample, but there are fewer pitches over the heart of the plate, and the ball is generally down in the zone. The weighted on-base average against the pitch in his first 24 appearances was .327; over his last five, it’s .199. The expected wOBA numbers line up with the actual nearly 1:1, as well.
I won’t run through every pitch, but I will look at them as a whole. In his first 24 outings, 35% of his pitches were either over the heart of the plate or in the “waste” zone. Those pitches are the best to hit, or almost wholly uncompetitive. The only positive outcome he’s had on one of those “waste” pitches this season is this whiff by Miguel Andujar for a strikeout. Every other pitch in that area has either been a ball or a hit by pitch. The pitches over the heart of the plate have a .353 xwOBA against them.
Since he’s shifted back to the first base side of the rubber full-time, he’s cut down on those pitches. Again, it’s a smaller sample, but only 30% of his pitches have been thrown to those zones. He’s living on the edges more, keeping the ball down, and it’s working out for him, at least for now.
Weissert isn’t all of a sudden going to become an elite reliever. He’s 31-years-old and has been up-and-down between Triple-A and the Majors for the last five seasons. Nobody is asking him to be elite, though. He just needs to be the bridge to the high-leverage arms, working one or two innings at a time. Now that he’s back to the first base side of the mound and his release points can remain consistent, he should be a steadier presence in the bullpen.
