Alex Cora wants people ‘to start paying attention’ to Tanner Houck

“It’s really good and I don’t think people are paying attention to it,” the Red Sox manager told reporters. “He went seven today and it was like, ‘OK, cool.’ He’s one of the best pitchers in the big leagues. Every outing, he’s giving us a chance to win. Changing speeds, throwing strikes with his split. Lefties, righties, it really doesn’t matter right now.

“I hope people start paying attention to what’s going on.”

It’s a bit difficult to gauge what Houck’s perception is around baseball at the moment. The season’s still only two months old and All-Star voting hasn’t even opened yet, although fans can’t vote on pitchers anyway.

But Houck should seemingly be in the running for American League Pitcher of the Month for May. Following his final start of the month on Friday, Houck recorded a 2-3 record with a 2.09 ERA. He allowed 29 hits, zero home runs, and 10 walks while recording 34 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings over six starts. He ranked seventh among American League pitchers in ERA and second innings pitched in May.

It might be a little too early to start having Cy Young conversations around Houck, but he’s certainly got a strong case for the award if they were to hand it out after the first two months of the season. While he’s only 5-5, Houck is second in the American League in ERA, innings pitched (78) while ranking fifth in WHIP (0.96) and tied for sixth in strikeouts (75). He holds the third-best betting odds to win the American League Cy Young (+1100) on DraftKings Sportsbook.

Of course, in order to have sub-2.00 ERA to go with a strong WHIP and strikeout total, you have to be consistent in nearly every start. That’s been the case for Houck for much of the season, and Cora senses the team can rely on him every time he goes out on the mound.

“It’s been fun to watch from our end,” Cora said. “It feels like with every outing, it’s like, ‘Let’s see what’s going to happen tonight,’ in a good way, right? It just happened that the score was the score.”

Friday was Houck’s 10th quality start of the season, tying him for the Major League lead. More specifically, Houck has pitched at least six innings while allowing one earned run or fewer in eight of his 12 starts this season. Friday marked the third straight occasion that he hit that threshold.

The only scary part of Houck’s outing on Friday came in the fifth inning, when Zach McKinstry hit a comeback that ricocheted off the pitcher’s throwing arm. Houck was able to get the ball and record the out. He also remained in the game.

Cora gave assurance that the Red Sox’ budding ace was OK following his most recent quality start.

“We’ve got to take care of them,” Cora said. “He’s going to get an extra day. That was good enough. Obviously, he got hit. He should be fine. He is fine.

“But yeah, it’s fun to watch him.”