Red Sox make front office hire to replace pitching guru who left for Mets

Following the departure of Justin Willard to the Mets, the Red Sox have filled their director of pitching role.

Boston has promoted Ben Buck, who was serving as the organization’s pitching coordinator, to director of pitching, a source confirmed Tuesday. FanSided’s Robert Murray first reported the move.

Willard served in the role under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow for two seasons after being hired in December 2023, but left the organization to become New York’s pitching coach after this past season. To fill the void, Breslow has made three changes to the club’s pitching infrastructure. In addition to promoting Buck, Breslow hired his former Cubs co-worker, Ryan Otero (who was Chicago’s director of pitching) as a special assistant to the chief baseball officer and also poached Quinn Cleary from the Mariners and made him an assistant director of pitching and head pitching strategist.

Buck, a Colorado native, pitched at the University of Utah before graduating in 2004. He was then a coach in the collegiate ranks before joining the Yankees system in 2020. He has been with the Red Sox since January, when Boston hired him away from New York.

The Red Sox have made other front office changes this winter, including making Mark Heil their director of international scouting. The club has not hired anyone to Breslow’s top circle of lieutenants to replace Paul Toboni, who left in October to be the Nationals’ president of baseball operations, and it’s unclear if they plan on doing so.

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