Hirokazu Sawamura

Sawamura made his way to the majors in 2021 after a 10-year professional career in Japan with 75 career saves. Armed with a mid-90s fastball (45% pitch %), effective split finger (39%) and slider (15%), the 33-year-old primarily pitched in middle relief for the Red Sox. The right-hander went 5-1 with a 3.06 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and 11 holds over 53 innings, though his 4.24 xERA and 4.99 FIP suggests he was a bit lucky. Long balls were a concern (1.5 HR/9) as a result of Sawamura throwing his fastball too far down in the zone, though he did compensate for it with a 51.8% groundball rate. Sawamura will need a strong spring to earn a higher-leverage role with Boston. There's a possibility he enters the mix for saves if manager Alex Cora deploys a closer committee again, but he'll likely need to cut his 13.7% walk rate in half to draw consideration.