Sitting Down with Red Sox Rookie Richard Fitts
By Tori Sheffer
Last Sunday night, fellow beat reporter Tommy Bennett and I had the absolute privilege of sitting down with a very quick Red Sox fan favorite, and incredible right-handed hurler, Richard Fitts. When thinking about the glimmers of brightness through an otherwise dreary and bleak 2024 second half, Fitts’ MLB debut stands out as one of the highlights to write home about. Richard Fitts came to the Sox in the Alex Verdugo trade of last offseason. Despite Verdugo being the focal point in the media’s eyes, Red Sox fans quickly got excited over the prospects we got in return, 2023 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year, Richard Fitts being one of them.
A southern Alabama native, Fitts grew up loving the game of baseball, and through our discussion, it was so amazing to learn that he is as passionate about the sport as he is about his craft. As soon as he joined the Red Sox organization, he quickly proved during Spring Training that he had what it takes to be a part of the Triple-A club. In our discussion even even went so far as to mention how excited he was to be a part of an always-revolving pitching staff that comes with being a part of the team’s Triple-A affiliate. After a successful few months with the WooSox, Fitts finally got the call-up to the show in September of this past year, and he was electric. After watching some of his stuff with “The Woo” and the work he showcased during his MLB debut, there’s no secret the command Fitts has over his pitch mix. A burning question that I had for Richard when we got to sit down with him was how he calculates his “putaway pitch” and how he truly uses his entire pitching arsenal when facing a batter in a given situation, being a model example of situational pitching.
“I really take pride in my fastball,” he said, “I really take pride in the fact that I feel like I can throw my fastball anywhere.” Which, looking at any at-bat he’s thrown, in the majors or minors, he’s right on the money. His four-seam fastball is extremely effective and looking at a sample of where that fastball is located is throughout the strikezone. While a fastball is a pitcher’s best friend, man cannot rely on four-seamer alone. Another question I asked him was what he was excited to develop and work on as he started anew in Worcester with a new org, and I was shocked at his reply, having admired his splitter throughout his MLB starts.
“I really wanted to work on developing my breaking pitches. Work on that swing-and-miss type stuff,” he said, “especially potentially getting to go up against MLB-level batters while in Triple-A.” It shocked me, just having watched how his splitter and slider defied gravity throughout his historic MLB beginnings with the Red Sox. In his second start, against his former team’s major league affiliate and known Boston rival Yankees no less, Fitts made franchise history becoming only one of four Red Sox pitchers to go 5+ innings and allow zero earned runs, accompanying current Red Sox star Tanner Houck in addition to Vaughn Eshelman who managed to accomplish this in 1995, and Dave Ferriss who was the first to accomplish this in 1945. At one point, Tommy asked who his pitching idol was when he was a young player studying the game, to which Richard replied with the more than respectable answer of Stephen Strasburg, to which Fitts said he hopes to be as influential to the game as his hero. With the records he’s already setting, it would be no surprise to hear Richard Fitts become a household name one day as his career continues to flourish.
Another question my counterpart asked was if there was one iconic pitch he would love to emulate and perfect for his own pitch mix, to which he first mentioned how “the jokester in him would love to say a knuckleball,” which quickly led to the three of us paying respects to Knuckleballer and Red Sox great, Tim Wakefield; however, instead of honing in on one former star’s iconic pitch, Fitts decided to take a different approach.
“I think I’d rather have a wider selection of pitches to work with,” he mentioned, then proceeded to go into the selection he’d love to have, fascinating Tommy and me both. Hearing Fitts’ passion and love for what he does, his drive to excel, in addition to his love for the art form that is pitching was like if we were able to sit down with Bob Ross to ask why he chooses specific shades of colors in given paintings, there was nothing quite like it. I cannot wait to watch Fitts’ pitch mix expand, and hopefully, it will one day include that knuckleball we all joked about as it would be an ironically perfect bookend to Richard’s involvement in the New England community at large. Throughout our talks, it was blatantly evident that he is equally as passionate about giving back to the greater Boston area through service in addition to good pitching.
“Polar Park is probably the best stadium I’ve gotten to play in,” he mentioned when talking about his deep love for Worcester the city, and its integration of the team and baseball stadium at its heart. Following up with, “I absolutely am loving my time with the Red Sox. I have always loved Boston as a city, and feel very grateful to play for this team.” As the well of pitching prospects for the team has begun to run dry in recent years, I look at Fitts as the first homegrown talent in this Red Sox Pitching Renaissance, and it was such a delight to sit and talk shop with him for a little while.
Thank you again to Richard Fitts for sitting down with Tommy and me. Here’s to a successful 2025 season for us all!
Tori Sheffer 
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