Red Sox Internal Battle Over Driveline May Be Brewing: What We Know

If you're a Boston Red Sox fan who still hasn't heard of Driveline Baseball, allow us to fill you in. You're going to need a solid primer, because Driveline is going to be one of the key behind-the-scenes storylines for the rest of the year.

The Red Sox, as you're likely well aware, fired manager Alex Cora and five of his top assistant coaches on Saturday. One of the highest-ranking coaches who wasn't let go was hitting coach John Soteropulos, who was elevated from his assistant hitting coach title under Cora. Previously, Soteropulos was a trainer at Driveline for three years.

Boston has hired a number of key Driveline lieutenants under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Without going into a full-on deep dive, Driveline focuses on data-driven performance, with methodology aimed at improving metrics like bat speed and exit velocity for hitters and velocity, spin rate, and pitch shape for pitchers.

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More evidence of Driveline's impact on Red Sox

Cincinnati Reds minor-league pitching coordinator Kyle Boddy walks around the bullpen during spring practice, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020, at the baseball team's spring training facility in Goodyear, Ariz. Cincinnati Reds Spring Training 2 23 2020 | Kareem Elgazzar, Cincinnati Enquirer via Imagn Content Services, LLC

On Friday, Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam of MassLive released a wide-ranging report on the impact and fallout from the Red Sox firing Cora and the aforementioned assistants, and highlighted the dispute over Driveline's teachings as a wedge between chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and some members of the organization who are still around, especially players.

"The impact of Driveline continues to be a hot-button topic in the Red Sox organization, and those on both sides of the debate have only intensified their stances since Saturday’s coaching purge," wrote McAdam and Cotillo.

"While Breslow is a believer in the data-driven player development organization, there is a faction of Red Sox players, former and current, who have expressed that they are against the methods, which are used by numerous teams around the league."

To illustrate how deep the ties between the Red Sox and Driveline already ran for the last few years, Driveline founder Kyle Boddy has been an advisor to Breslow since 2024. Boston's minor-league hitting program, which has been credited for part of the development that turned the likes of Kristian Campbell and Roman Anthony into top prospects, is also known to rely heavily on Driveline principles.

This won't be the last we hear of players disagreeing with the organizational philosophies surrounding player development, including Driveline specifically, as long as Breslow is at the helm.

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