Tanner Houck #89

Full name is Tanner Lee Houck...Was selected by the Blue Jays out of Collinsville (IL) High School in the 2014 June Draft but elected to attend the University of Missouri...Ranked 2nd among 3-year players in Missouri history with 292 SO, trailing Kyle Gibson (304 from 2007-09)... became the school’s second pitcher to throw at least 300 innings in three or fewer seasons...Was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 8 college prospect available in the 2017 June Draft.

2020

Made his ML debut, starting three games in September... was 1 of 6 Red Sox to make a Major League debut in 2020...Went 3-0 with a 0.53 ERA (1 ER/17.0 IP)...Struck out 33.3% of his batters faced (21 of 63), the Sox’ highest mark...Allowed only 6 hits to his 63 batters faced (6-for-53, .113 AVG)...lefties had a .111 AVG/.439 OPS against him and righties had a .114 AVG/.444 OPS...All 6 hits came against his 4-seam fastball (6-for27)...allowed 0 hits against his slider (0-for-15, 10 SO), 2-seamer (0-for-10, 3 SO), and splitter (0-for-1), according to Statcast...Each of his opponents advanced to at least the Division Series round of the Postseason (MIA, NYY, ATL)...Raised $5,013 for Caritas Family Solutions through his Pitch4Adoption pledge...personally donated $100 for each of his 21 strikeouts.

2019

Made his Triple-A debut, but spent most of the year with Double-A Portland and was named an Eastern League mid-season All-Star...His first 15 appearances came as a starter, but 16 of his final 18 outings came in relief...In 14 Triple-A relief appearances, posted a 2.05 ERA and held opponents to a .179 AVG (22.0 IP, 14 H, 5 ER)...Also pitched for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League and for Team USA in the Premier12 tournament...All 8 appearances with the teams came as a starter...Began the season by allowing 7 ER in 4.0 IP in his Double-A debut on 4/6 vs. Reading, but allowed only 1 run in his remaining 3 starts in April (16.0 IP)...In his 7 starts with Portland from 5/25-7/1, went 5-1 with a 2.30 ERA and a .209 opponent AVG (43.0 IP, 33 H, 11 ER, 1 HR, 15 BB, 43 SO)...Moved to the bullpen after allowing 1 run (0 ER) in 7.0 IP on 7/1 vs. Trenton...Made his reliever debut on 7/6 at New Hampshire and allowed 6 ER in 0.1 IP...In his remaining 15 relief outings between Portland and Pawtucket, posted a 1.96 ERA (5 ER/23.0 IP)...Pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the Eastern League All-Star Game on 7/10 (1 H, 2 SO)...Promoted to Pawtucket on 7/13 and spent the rest of the season with the PawSox...Following the season, made 6 starts for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League, going 3-2 with a 3.47 ERA (9 ER/23.1 IP), 26 SO, and 12 BB...In his final 4 outings, posted a 1.50 ERA (3 ER/18.0 IP)...Also made 2 starts with Team USA in the Premier12 tournament, going 0-2 with a 3.86 ERA (4 ER/9.1 IP)...Pitched against Mexico (4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO) and Australia (5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO).