After some early career tribulations, Tanner Houck leaned into his newfound sweeper, discovered durability thought unimaginable previously, improved on some shortcomings, and had arguably absolutely the best season of his career in 2024 to prompt discussions of an extension.
The Positives
As if that previous sentence wasn’t enough of a clue as to where this article may go, I, along with much of Red Sox nation, really bought into a vision of Tanner Houck as a long-term starter this season. The former first-round pick recorded a 3.9 WAR, which almost matched his career total combined, and notched 178 2⁄3 innings across 30 starts, missing only some time in September due to shoulder fatigue, which, well, given the state of the rest of the team’s health (*broadly gestures*) you can’t complain much about.