Rather than shooting for the stars during the Hot Stove season, the Red Sox under new chief baseball office Craig Breslow are banking on several players from their young core to take the next step.

Breslow has rebuilt the team’s pitching infrastructure around new pitching coach Andrew Bailey, director of pitching Justin Willard and Kyle Boddy (founder of Driveline Baseball). The hope is that a greater focus on analytics will help the likes of Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Josh Winckowski.

Next week, the Red Sox will be under the warm sun of Fort Myers, Fla., starting the process of trying to improve from back-to-back 78-84 finishes. Without further ado, here is a primer for Spring Training.

When is the first workout for pitchers and catchers?
Wednesday

What is the date of the first full-squad workout?
Feb. 19

Where is the team’s facility?
The Red Sox train in Fort Myers at the sprawling Fenway South complex, which includes JetBlue Park, the team’s venue for Grapefruit League home games since 2012. Fenway South is located on Daniels Parkway, and is in close proximity to the airport and a variety of shops and restaurants.

Can fans attend workouts?
Yes, workouts -- which typically start around 10 a.m. ET each day on the six practice fields -- are open to the public.

Who are some new faces fans should know?
The key new face to watch is veteran righty Lucas Giolito, the free-agent acquisition who could vault to the top of the rotation if he can regain his 2019-21 form. Trade acquisition Tyler O’Neill should carve out his share of playing time in the outfield if he can stay healthy. There will be a lot of focus on 23-year-old Vaughn Grissom, who was blocked from playing time by a loaded core in Atlanta, but comes to Boston with the chance to win the job at second base in Spring Training.

Who are some of the top prospects invited to Major League camp?
Of the four Red Sox prospects who cracked MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list, Ceddanne Rafaela (No. 76) is the only one expected to be in Major League camp. In fact, Rafaela, who got 83 at-bats at the end of last season, will try to win a spot on the Opening Day roster. Nick Yorke, Boston’s first-round Draft pick from 2020, will also get a chance to make an impression.

When is the team’s first Grapefruit League game?
The Sox open their Grapefruit League slate on the road against the defending American League East champion Orioles on Feb. 24.

What are a few other notable spring games?
The Red Sox will travel to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to face the Rays on March 9-10. It will be a chance for Rafael Devers and Bello to play in their native country. Per usual, the Red Sox will play two Grapefruit League games against the Yankees. The first will be in Tampa on March 13. The Sox will have a split-squad contest at home against New York on March 17.

What is Spring Breakout and when is the game?
MLB Spring Breakout is a four-day event showcasing baseball's future: the current stars of Minor League Baseball. The inaugural edition will be held from March 14-17, 2024, at Grapefruit and Cactus League stadiums during Spring Training. On March 16 at JetBlue Park, the Red Sox will unveil a team of their top prospects against the top Minor Leaguers of the Braves.

Will Red Sox games be televised this spring?
There will be 22 games that NESN will televise across their three platforms, which also includes NESN+ and NESN 360. NESN viewers can get their first look at the 2024 Sox on Feb. 23, when the club hosts Northeastern. The first Grapefruit League game on Feb. 24 will also be part of NESN’s schedule.

When is the club’s last game in Florida?
The Red Sox wrap up their time in Fort Myers when they host the Braves on March 24.

Will there be any additional exhibitions before the regular season?
The Red Sox will be participants in the first games at Globe Life Field since the World Series when they travel to Arlington to face the defending champion Rangers on March 25-26.

What are the details for Opening Day?
Everything starts for real for the 2024 Sox on March 28, when they face the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10 p.m. ET. That will be the start of a three-city West Coast trip in which Boston will also visit the A’s and Angels.

When is the home opener?
Fenway Park will open its gates on April 9, with a 2:10 p.m. ET first pitch scheduled against the Orioles.

The one thing you can say about the 2024 season for the Red Sox is that it will be documented like none other in the club’s extensive history.

Netflix announced on Wednesday that it will have unprecedented access to follow the 2024 Red Sox behind the scenes from start to finish. The final product will be a docuseries that will air in ’25. This is the first time Netflix has followed an MLB team for a season.

How did this come about?

The process started in 2021, as more of a broad discussion between Netflix, MLB and the leaders of the Red Sox's ownership group about an opportunity to grow the reach of baseball.

“It wasn't necessarily going to be about the Red Sox. It was just more of the importance of getting baseball into this medium, these sort of doc series and global platform opportunities,” said Red Sox chief marketing officer Adam Grossman.

So how did the Red Sox turn into the focus of the project?

“MLB took some time to concept,” said Grossman. “What would make the most sense from a baseball standpoint, from the industry standpoint? Is it leagues, is it players, multiple teams or specific teams? It could go so many different ways. And over the course of the year, I think what they landed on was that it would probably be best -- given the nature of the grind of a season -- to feature one team. Then the question was, what team would do it?”

The Red Sox raised their hand once the players signed off on the idea.

“This is a unique opportunity the players didn’t want to pass up,” Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story said. “I’ve enjoyed the behind-the-scenes access in Netflix’s other sports documentaries, and now we get to give the fans an unparalleled look at the passion, sacrifice and hard work it takes to be a Major League Baseball player.”

In addition, Netflix announced it is also in the process of producing a docuseries that will serve as a 20-year retrospective of the curse-busting 2004 Red Sox. That series will debut later this year.

To subscribe to Red Sox Beat, visit this page and mark "Red Sox Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Red Sox or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online