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The Red Sox’s Tanner Houck talks rain, David Price and his mother Natalie Urquiza >> The Entertainer!
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oston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Tanner Houck unlaces his dark navy, suede shoes that used to belong to David Price, and sets them on top of the wooden bench as rain falls around him. He says, “I am not going to ruin those things, no way.” He slides off his socks, flips his bright red Boston Red Sox hood and walks alongside the dugout wall on the wooden bench, avoiding the flooded Peoria Javelinas dugout at Peoria Sports Complex. “Here I go,” Houck says. He remarks about the chilly rain as he steps onto the flooded cement, trying to grab the bag sitting on top of the dugout steps. He could have left the team’s bag in the rain, but Houck is not that type of person. The Boston Red Sox drafted Houck 24th overall in the 2017 Major League Draft. Now he’s a star in the Arizona Fall League, which plays until the October 26 championships. He grew up about 20 minutes outside of St. Louis with his mom, three younger sisters and his 3-yearold dalmatian, Bella. He attended Collinsville High School, for whom he played baseball, basketball for three years and golf for one year. Even though the ballfields were tattered, the experience was humbling and competitive. “I played against Chad Spanberger in my high school conference,” Houck says. “I faced him in double-A this year.” Houck attended the University of Missouri, where he was a Tiger for three years. He thanked Tim Jamieson for recruiting him and giving him a scholarship to further his baseball career and educational pursuits. “It was a great honor to play in the SEC one of the best baseball conferences by far in the country,” Houck says. “It was a great time; I definitely learned a lot, grew up a lot on
and off the field.” He had the same coaching staff for two of his three years at Missouri. “You truly have to shut your mouth and open your ears,” Houck says. “It is a very old thing to say but it is true. You got to learn from the people who have done it and people that have experienced a lot more than you.” He has climbed the Minor League ladder quickly in 2017, and after the offseason in 2018, he proceeded to Salem, Virginia, for his first full year. This last year, he started Double-A with the Portland Sea Dogs and finished in Triple-A with the Pawtucket Red Sox. While he was in the minors, he had pitched in relief instead of his normal starting spot. “I took it very well,” Houck says. “It was one of those things I just said no matter what, it is 60 feet, 6 inches. The only difference is I might have to get warmer a little bit quicker, so I got to be doing stuff throughout the game to stay hot.” He knew he wanted to be a pitcher for as long as he can remember, looking up to pitching greats like AJ Burnett, Adam Wainwright, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera. He recalled his mother, Jennifer, telling him a story of his first pitch. “My mom said that ever since I was little, I would pick up the ball and threw it,” Houck says. “It was just natural. It was something I gravitated to.” At age 9, he started taking pitching lessons where his love for pitching grew to what is it today. He compares his job to that of a quarterback on a football team. “I can control what I can control and once the ball leaves my hand, unless it comes back at me, I can’t really do anything else,” Houck says. The strategy between batter and pitcher is similar to that of a chess match. The batter is going to try hit what the pitcher throws. In turn, the pitcher is trying to beat the batter with his best pitch. “I was just better at it, I am not going to lie,” Houck says. “Being able to think, I am in control. No one else is
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in control of what is going to happen. I dictate what pitch I am going to throw here, and I can execute the pitch.” He has been enjoying the Arizona Fall League. His ERA is 6.75, with one win and one loss in two appearances, as of September 27. He calls the AFL a learning process. “Everyone calls it the ‘Showcase League,’” Houck says. “I am treating it a lot like a regular season game as much as I can. I want to continue to better myself while I am out here. That’s also something I think this league is meant for, is truly a developmental side.”
Houck says there are misconceptions about the Arizona Fall League, which grooms players for the future. “You might not throw your best pitch in that spot,” Houck says. “Honestly, for me, I have to work on my changeup, so I am going to go out there and throw my changeup as many times as I comfortably can while trying to still be competitive.”
Arizona Fall League mlb.com/arizona-fall-league