September 22, 2026 at 1:00 PM
After "roller coaster" season, Max Carlson showed improvement in Portland
"This season was a bit of a roller coaster for me," Carlson said. "I felt really good coming into spring training. Over the first month in Portland, I was probably the worst pitcher in the Eastern League. Slowly but surely, I started to climb out of it. The biggest thing I did over that big stretch of time was to just be where my feet are. I was trying not to change who I was coming to the field every day and making sure I got my work in. I kept thinking to myself it was going to come around. I strung a couple good outings together and the confidence started coming back. Before you know it, I had put together two good months. During that stretch, my stuff ticked up a little bit and warmed up. I have definitely made a lot of improvements to my arsenal as well, which helped."
The North Carolina product reached Double-A for the first time in his career in 2026 and struck out 94 batters over 79.1 innings pitched. The right-hander credited the pitching coach duo in Portland for helping unlock a few things with his game.
"There have been several different things I have been working on this year," Carlson noted. "Juan Rivera and Isaiah Page, the two pitching coaches here in Portland, are both extremely smart guys and they are always thinking of something you can keep in your back pocket to work on. As little as working on things during catch play, doing drills on side days, or velocity bullpens to address the needs. They have given me some big nuggets to think about over the last couple of months. My cutter, for example, I was always around 83-85mph in the past. I am now sitting 87-89mph after working with them. My fastball has also seen the velo tick back up. I was around 90-91mph at the beginning of the season. Recently, I have been 92-93mph. Those are a couple of things that I have noticed that have altered the performance a bit. My changeup also gets a lot of whiffs, but it gets barreled a little bit against righties. What can we do about that? You take a look at trends and heat maps and try something else. Maybe instead of throwing your changeup into righties, you should be backdooring it. You should be throwing it to the other side of the plate. It is what I have been working on over the last couple months, and I have had a lot of success doing that. Those two guys have been helping a ton"
Carlson had a bit of a unique role in Portland this year, as he made starts, bulk inning relief outings, and even the traditional one inning relief appearances where he picked up saves. It is nothing new or unique, as the Red Sox have treated the lower minors that way dating back a few years now.
"Last year I had a really bad shoulder impingement," Carlson said. "It took a long time to get that thing healthy. After rehabbing this past offseason and trying to get healthy, I kind of just told myself the only thing that mattered this year was competing the entire season and staying healthy while proving to people I could do a good job. I take that into account every single day whether I am starting or relieving. It doesn’t really matter what my role is. I am just grateful that I am here and that I am alive and pitching. It has been interesting how they were managing the bullpen arms in Portland this year. Most of the guys have been able to go at least two to three innings. If you were going to go up and help the big league team this year, you were most likely going to be going up there to throw two to three innings. I believe it is the general idea of how they are trying to prepare us."
Photo Credit: Max Carlson by Kelly O'Connor