BOSTON -- Unlike other seasons, when Nathan Eovaldi came in as a health concern, he is the current pace-setter for the Red Sox’s starting rotation.

The flame-throwing right-hander tossed three innings of batting practice from the main mound at Fenway Park during Saturday's Summer Camp workout, hitting close to 100 mph on the radar gun, according to manager Ron Roenicke.

With Eduardo Rodriguez still in limbo as he awaits results on a COVID-19 test after being exposed to someone who was sick, Eovaldi could emerge as the Opening Day starter for the Red Sox.

“I’ll be ready,” Eovaldi said. “I feel great right now. I don’t have any issues whatsoever it’s just go out there and keep building and take it from there. We’ve got plenty of time.”

It was clear Eovaldi used the time off to his advantage after Spring Training was shut down in mid-March. Originally, he gave his arm some time to recover. After that, he built himself back up as he would in a normal offseason.

“Once they said June 10 would try to be our start date, I tried to be ready to go by then, at least four or five or six innings,” Eovaldi said. “I’ve probably thrown five or six outings at home with no hitters or anything like that. I was able to throw to [catcher Connor] Wong, and we were doing six innings, 15, 20 pitches each, so I feel like I’m strong and ready to go.”

Eovaldi was never himself last season, undergoing right elbow surgery in April and struggling to regain his command when he returned. This season, he could be primed to bounce back and pitch like he did in 2018, when he helped the Red Sox win the World Series.

“Nate’s throwing these games out here and still throwing close to 100,” Roenicke said. “With him, the effort and the energy level, I guess he doesn’t need that game performance against another team to have the adrenaline to really be able to get a lot out of it and maximize his stuff.”

Verdugo asks for velocity and gets it

Right fielder Alex Verdugo -- who was sidelined in Spring Training with a stress fracture in his back -- was feeling so good on Saturday that he told Roenicke he wanted to face some velocity.

Roenicke took him up on his offer and let him face Eovaldi, one of the hardest throwers in the Majors.

“It was probably the first time I’ve seen any type of pitching for probably 10 months, I want to say,” Verdugo said. “It so happened Nathan was going out there on the bump and let’s say that, yeah, I got welcomed real quick to good old 99, 98 [mph].”

Taking full-throttle swings against Eovaldi was probably the best way for Verdugo to gauge his health in a non-game environment.

“I took a full swing, I swung and missed and had no pain, no discomfort,” Verdugo said. “That was really reassuring. That’s really what this is about. It’s just to get my timing back and to reassure that my body, physically everything, is handling the progression.”

Split camp

After conducting all of Friday’s opening workout at Fenway Park, the Red Sox sent some players to Boston College to get their work in on Saturday.

That will be a frequent occurrence for spacing reasons.

“We had pitchers that went over to get some PFP work, some conditioning, and we had four regulars go over there to get their work in, two outfielders, two infielders and then tomorrow we’re trying to figure out what to do,” Roenicke said. “We’ve got a big group of pitchers going over tomorrow. I think we’re scheduled for 18 pitchers to go over to BC tomorrow. We’re deciding what to do with the regulars. We may flip-flop some guys over there.

“Then, the next day, all the regulars may be over here because we’ve got a lot of live BPs, I think we’ve got 11 guys throwing live BPs on Monday.”

McHugh’s side session

The Red Sox are continuing to evaluate whether right-hander Collin McHugh will be available to start the season as he comes back from a right flexor strain in his elbow sustained in 2019.

McHugh threw a side session at Fenway on Saturday.

“Talking to [pitching coach] Dave Bush about him, he let it go like every few pitches,” Roenicke said. “But he didn’t every pitch. He looked good. I thought the ball was coming out nice and clean, I thought the effort level was good. But he’s pretty smooth. I think he was happy with how the bullpen went, and tomorrow we’ll probably get a better read on it.”

Addition to pool
The Red Sox added a Minor League free agent to their player pool on Saturday in right-hander Caleb Simpson.

Simpson pitched previously in the Giants' organization and signed with the Cubs prior to Spring Training, but he was released. In 2019, the 28-year-old made 34 relief appearances across Double-A and Class A Advanced, going 2-5 with a 3.00 ERA. He has a 3.41 ERA over 121 career Minor League games.

The Red Sox's 60-man player pool is now at 49.