Red Sox claim lefthander Josh Osich off waivers
The team also confirmed changes to its coaching staff.
The Red Sox have made the first move of the Chaim Bloom era, claiming pitcher Josh Osich off waivers from the Chicago White Sox.
The 31-year-old lefthander excelled against lefties last season, yielding just a .171 batting average in 115 plate appearances.
In addition, the Red Sox officially named Dave Bush their pitching coach for the upcoming season. Bush was promoted from his 2019 role of minor-league pitching coordinator for performance and spent time assisting former pitching coach Dana LeVangie with the major-league team during stretches of last season.
LeVangie, who has spent 29 years with the organization, was reassigned to a pro scouting role, it was announced earlier this month.
Assisting Bush will be Kevin Walker, who has been promoted from Triple-A, where he was the pitching coach for the past two seasons. Walker appeared in 122 major-league games in the early-to-mid 2000s.
On the other side: Pete Fatse was officially announced as assistant hitting coach. The 32-year-old grew up in western Mass. and played college baseball at UConn. He comes to the Red Sox from Minnesota, where he spent one season as the Twins’ minor-league hitting coordinator — his only season in a coaching role with a major-league club.
Lastly: The Red Sox have a new mental skills coordinator in Rey Fuentes. He spent the past five seasons as the Latin coordinator for the Cubs’ mental-skills program.
