FORT MYERS, Fla. - It took a few weeks, but word is starting to get out about one of the most eye-opening workouts of the offseason.
Throwing in front of approximately 15 scouts at the Fuel Factory in Phoenix, Matt Strahm left an impression few were expecting ... himself included.
"It was probably the best bullpen of my life," the lefty reliever told WEEI.com. "Everything clicked and the stars aligned for me."
The free agent pitcher was coming off a 2021 season that included just 6 2/3 innings due to knee issues. But after an offseason of strengthening the knee, the payoff came in a most unexpected fashion with the one, 25-pitch showcase.
"I had something similar was why sophomore year of Junior College," Strahm remembered. "It was our sophomore showcase for the entire conference. Up until that point in most of my bullpens I was probably 84-86 mph. Then I showed up to that one and I hit 91 mph in the bullpen. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! This is unbelievable.’ It was kind of similar to that, but 10 years later.
"Showed them everything. Let them see it all and let the feeding frenzy begin."
While the Red Sox ultimately won out when it came to securing the services of Strahm, it wasn't as if they didn't have competition.
"I threw my bullpen at noon and we were fielding phone calls from a bunch of different teams for the next 12 hours," he said. "The Red Sox were one of the first ones to call, for sure."
As it turned out Strahm's fastball was clocking in at a level he had never seen before.
"I had some scouts tell me I hit 96 which I still don’t believe, but they believe, so that’s all that counts," he said with a chuckle, having signed a one-year, $3 million with the Red Sox. "In the big leagues the highest I threw was probably 98, but in the bullpen? I had never done anything like that. That was new.
"I felt good but I really didn’t know what it was until they started telling me. I didn’t have the number live until I stopped throwing. I threw, sat down and watched my brother throw. After they told me I was kind of surprised.
"I was pretty happy."
And now, so are the Red Sox.