Lost in the shuffle of the madness that was winter weekend, the Red Sox announced they had hired Kyle Boddy as an advisor to Craig Breslow.

Who is he and where does he come from?

Kyle Boddy is the founder of Driveline Baseball, a player development center headquartered in Washington. Driveline was established in 2008 and has grown to have multiple locations and is seen as one of the leaders in player development. Several big leaguers spend the offseason working with coaches at Driveline to develop new pitches, add velocity, or make other tweaks they couldn’t during a season. Boddy worked with the Cincinnati Reds as their “Minor League Director of Pitching Initiatives/Pitching Coordinator” from 2019 to 2021, and has remained independent since then.

What position does he play?

He’s been hired as a special advisor to Craig Breslow, whatever that means. He’s also played poker and chess, coached baseball, and worked at Microsoft, among other things. For the Red Sox, I assume he’ll stick to baseball-related activities, but wouldn’t be surprised if he found some new opponent on the chessboard as well.

So what exactly does he do?

He does a lot of stuff that goes way over my head, but it all comes back to helping players improve. It’s anywhere from pitching and strength programs, to using AI to problem-solve. If you check out his Twitter, you’ll see all sorts of tech stuff, science experiments, and things of that ilk. I can’t say what his day-to-day will look like with the Red Sox, but I’d imagine he’ll help bring some of Driveline’s methods to the organization.

Why is he a good fit for the 2024 Red Sox?

The Red Sox need to be better at developing pitching. It’s no secret they’ve fallen behind much of the league in that department. While Driveline does much more than just pitching, tons of pitchers credit their improvement to Driveline’s methods. Our very own Nick Pivetta spent time at Driveline last off-season and became a new pitcher seemingly overnight. Even if Boddy is just an advisor, if he can help implement the newest technology and bring up-to-date player development strategies to Boston, it should be a net positive.

Also, he said so:

Why is he not a good fit for the 2024 Red Sox?

While I’m sure Boddy tests his teaching methods, I’m not sure he has the athletic prowess to step on the mound and throw 180 high-quality innings. Some research did reveal he could be the right-handed hitter we’re looking for, but we’re dealing with a small sample size. (On the off-chance that Kyle is reading this, I’d like to clarify I wouldn’t recommend he slot into the Red Sox lineup. However, if he’d like to talk to me about my opinions on the roster construction or is looking for an assistant, I’d be happy to take the time).

Anything else I should know?

I’m glad you asked! Boddy is speaking on Friday night as part of PitcherList’s annual “PitchCon”. PitchCon is a charity event with several panels throughout the week in support of ALS research. If you’re not familiar with PitcherList, go poke around the website, check out some panels, and consider donating if you can.