And here is some info on Dylan Covey, who also made the Opening Day roster:
Dylan Covey
28, RHP
Former first round pick of the Brewers, (taken right after Chris Sale!!) didn't sign, then was taken in the 4th round by the A's in 2013.
https://sports.yahoo.com/heres-know-red-sox-pitcher-224810814.html
Covey has appeared in 63 games as a Major League pitcher -- all with the Chicago
White Sox -- including 45 starts. He owns a 6-29 record with a 6.54 ERA, 173 strikeouts and a 1.60 WHIP for his career. Covey has a 5-26 record with a 6.75 ERA in 217 1/3 innings as a starter.
Here's what he threw like
back in 2017, when he was a White Sox prospect:
Covey can run his fastball up to 95 mph but typically sits between 89-93 mph with heavy sink. His best pitch often is his changeup, which features splitter action. He also throws a curveball and slider, both of which have their moments but usually grade as average offerings.
Because Covey lacks a plus pitch, he must keep the ball down in the strike zone to succeed. He doesn't have huge upside as a starter, but he could be an innings eater toward the back of a rotation.
Ron Howard voice-over: He couldn't.
Here's a really optimistic take on Covey from Beyond the Box Score from 2018:
Overall, Covey has done a massive overhaul with fastball. Last year he threw a four-seamer 30.1% of the time. Through six starts this year, he’s almost totally abandoned it, throwing it at a 3.7% rate. He’s essentially replaced it with a sort of two-seam sinking fastball (Baseball Savant marks it as a two-seamer, Brooks Baseball has it as a sinker), which he threw 27.3% of the time in 2017, upping it to a 64.1% mark this season. His rate of increase with that pitch is at an unprecedented level among major league pitchers this year.
The complete remodel with his fastball combined with a release point change has done wonders for Covey’s control problems too. The rate of pitches in the zone on his fastball has had a nice uptick, jumping from 50.0% to 57.1%, now comfortably above the league-average of 52.0%.
I try to not get worked over a small sample size, such as something like six starts, but when a player makes a dramatic change to his profile and results start to improve, it’s hard not to say something. Covey likely isn’t ever going to become anything flashy, but the White Sox might have molded a very capable major league starter with a few changes.
Ron Howard voice-over: They haven't.
Not to sugarcoat it, but Covey's been one of the very worst pitchers in baseball over the past few years.
In 250 major league innings, he's accrued -2.6 WAR, with a 6.54 ERA and a 6-29 W-L record and an ERA+ of 66.
Is he at least on an upswing? Nope. Last year he went 1-8, 7.98 with the White Sox.
This guy is bad at pitching the baseball, compared to other major league pitchers. He's probably a lot better pitcher than you or me, and even probably better than a lot of minor leaguers. And better than some, but not all, position players who sometimes try to pitch.
Those horrendous career numbers would be even horrendouser if he wasn't great against the Red Sox. He's gone 2-0, 1.32 in 13 career innings against Boston.
He has made one career appearance at Fenway Park. It was with the White Sox in 2018 when he started against Sale on June 8. Covey pitched six innings, allowing three hits and no runs with seven strikeouts and one walk. The White Sox won 1-0.
Clearly, he dominates everyone at Fenway, so we should definitely count on him to win the Cy Young award this year if we only pitch him in home games.