Dana Levangie

It was as much a psychological move as a baseball one. Game Five of the 2004 American League Championship Series at Fenway Park was tied, 4-4, heading into the bottom of the ninth. Red Sox pitchers Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, and Tim Wakefield, gloves in hand, began walking from the team’s first-base dugout out to the bullpen. Fans noticed them making the trek and gave the trio a standing ovation, which was the desired effect.

Despite a dramatic extra-innings win against the Yankees in Game Four less than 24 hours earlier, the Red Sox still faced elimination in the best-of-seven series. They needed to beat New York three more times to reach the World Series, and while Schilling, Lowe, and Wakefield were not scheduled to pitch in this contest, the meaning of the moment was clear. In order to pull out this game, and then two on the road at Yankee Stadium, Boston would need all hands on deck – and all arms loose. Most of those looking on likely thought the architect of the decision was Boston manager Terry Francona, but it was in fact an individual far less known to those at Fenway and throughout Red Sox Nation.

Bullpen catcher Dana LeVangie.

“I called from the bullpen and said, ‘Hey, listen. Tell those guys to get their gloves and have them walk across the field,’” LeVangie would reflect later. “It was incredible, the intensity it brought to the park. It also sent a message to the Yankees: We’re not going down without a fight, no matter what.”1

In the end, LeVangie’s move proved to be more than just good theater. The game went 14 innings, and Wakefield pitched one-hit ball for the last three to get the 5-4 win. Boston then punched its World Series ticket with two victories in New York, becoming the first major-league team ever to win a best-of-seven playoff series after being down 3-0.2 These events, in a way, sum up LeVangie’s unparalleled career. For nearly 30 years before he became pitching coach for one of the winningest teams in Red Sox history, LeVangie served his hometown club in numerous behind-the-scenes ways he could never have imagined when drafted as a player by the Boston organization in 1991. While earning World Series rings in four different roles with the Red Sox – bullpen catcher (2004), advance scout (2007), bullpen coach (2013), and pitching coach (2018) – he proved himself an indispensable part of the organization time and again, garnering the praise and ear of everyone from Francona to Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martínez for his baseball acumen.

“His understanding of the game, how to attack hitters, is second to none,” Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes said of LeVangie in 2018, a consensus held by players and coaches across the decades. “He knows everybody from every team that’s ever played. It’s unbelievable.”3

Before becoming a revered coach and scout, LeVangie started out like countless other New England kids who envisioned playing for the Boston Red Sox. The daughter of Jeanne and Alan LeVangie, he was born on August 11, 1969, in Brockton, Massachusetts, and was a three-sport athlete (football, wrestling, baseball) at Whitman-Hanson High School in nearby Hanson.4 “I went to Fenway Park as much as I could,” LeVangie said of his childhood. “I didn’t watch as many games as I’d like because I was playing. When we played Wiffle ball, we pretended we were in Fenway Park. I always loved Carlton Fisk.”5

When LeVangie graduated from Whitman-Hanson in 1987, his big-league dreams appeared behind him. He enrolled at Cape Cod Community College to study hotel and restaurant management that fall, and was not even known to the school’s baseball coaching staff. “I was an OK player, but when I graduated from high school, I wasn’t necessarily looking to keep playing ball,” he said. “Once I got to [Cape Cod CC], I saw the team and wanted to get involved.”6

LeVangie had changed his mind; he was not yet ready to put baseball completely in his rear-view mirror. He decided to try out for the Cape Cod CC team as a catcher, more out of necessity than a desire to be the next Pudge Fisk. Although he had barely played the position previously, LeVangie felt it offered him his best chance to make the squad and get playing time. The strategy worked, and he found he enjoyed being in the thick of the action behind the plate. “Deciding to play catcher was one of the best choices I ever made,” he later said. “Playing catcher really made me a better communicator and it gave a better understanding of the game.”7

LeVangie’s play for Cape Cod CC during the next two seasons attracted interest from pro scouts as well as four-year colleges offering scholarships and two more years of eligibility. He chose to attend American International College, a Division II school in Springfield, Massachusetts, from which a handful of players had previously been drafted by major-league teams.8 And as LeVangie would prove time and again in his long career to come, it proved the right move at the right time. 

LeVangie shined at American International (AIC). After a strong junior season for the Yellow Jackets in 1990, the right-handed hitter posted off-the-charts numbers as a senior: a .473 average, 13 homers, and 87 RBIs in less than 50 games.9 He paced the Northeast-10 Conference in all three categories, led AIC to a 32-12 record, and helped the team to its first-ever berth in the College World Series. The performance earned LeVangie both Northeast-10 Player of the Year and Division II All-American first-team accolades, and he would later be inducted into the AIC Hall of Fame (in 2005) as well as the Northeast-10 Hall of Fame (in 2011).10

Although AIC was quickly eliminated from the College World Series, LeVangie’s star was now in full ascent – leading to a most memorable day on June 6, 1991. That afternoon the 21-year-old prospect took part in the annual New England Collegiate All-Star Game at Fenway Park, collecting an RBI single in his first time playing on the hallowed ground where he had watched Fisk and the rest of his boyhood heroes perform. Then, after returning home that night, he learned by phone that the Red Sox had selected him in the 14th round of the 1991 major-league draft. “It was a dream come true,” recalled LeVangie, who signed with legendary Boston scout Bill Enos shortly thereafter.11

LeVangie’s professional playing career, which began later that same month with Elmira in the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League, wound up encompassing six years, seven teams, and four levels. While his defensive play and strong throwing arm were praised at each stop, he struggled when at the plate rather than behind it. He batted .149 at Elmira in 1991, .192 at Class-A Winter Haven in ’92, and .188 at Class-A Fort Lauderdale in ’93 – notching just one home run in a combined 191 games and 589 at-bats. “It was a mind thing,” he later said of this period. “I got it set in my head that I couldn’t hit professional pitching.”12

Despite these struggles, the Red Sox felt strongly enough about LeVangie’s catching skills and work ethic to promote him to Double-A Lynchburg in 1994. There he seemed to turn the corner offensively; given the chance to start, he had a .234 average and 3 homers in 79 games. “The organization wants LeVangie to catch more,” Louisville manager Mark Meleski explained after one stretch in which LeVangie went 10-for-22. “He’s definitely our best defensive catcher. And it just so happens right now he’s swinging the bat very, very well. So that’s helped his cause out too.”13

Asked then what he thought was responsible for the improvement, LeVangie said, “I used to have a little loop in my swing, kind of a long swing, and now I’m throwing my hands directly at the ball.” Meleski credited LeVangie’s willingness to listen and learn from Red Sox minor-league batting instructor Steve Braun, who had worked with him to cut down his swing – leading to better contact and more line drives.14

Not surprisingly, given this development, LeVangie was bumped up the ladder yet again in 1995 to Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Pawtucket, the two top clubs in the Boston farm system. His average was back down to a combined .185 between the two spots, but again he seemed to adjust; although a broken hamate bone in his left wrist limited LeVangie to 25 games split between Trenton and Pawtucket in 1996, he hit a combined .220 in 75 at-bats with the highest OPS (.720) of his career.

He was, however, about to reach a crossroads in his professional life. “I talked to the Red Sox about my future in the offseason,” he later recalled. “I was told that they planned on my catching at the Double-A or Triple-A level [in 1997] and I was feeling pretty good about the situation.”15 Two weeks later, however, another situation presented itself when Bob Schaefer, minor-league coordinator for the Red Sox, asked him if he wanted to put his playing career behind and go up to the majors as Boston’s bullpen coach. “It was a full-time gig and I would be traveling with the team,” LeVangie said of the offer. “It was the push that eventually led me in the direction of scouting and coaching.”16

As bullpen catcher for the next eight seasons (1997-2004), LeVangie was with the Red Sox in uniform – home and away – from the start of spring training to the final game each year. In addition to loosening up starting pitchers on their offdays, he spent each game in the bullpen waiting for word from the manager or pitching coach to warm relievers up. The job was one of near-anonymity. Apart from those seated directly behind the Boston bullpen at Fenway Park and other big-league venues, most fans never saw LeVangie’s face; even fewer heard his name.

The team, however, appreciated his work immensely. By providing daily scouting reports to the pitchers and coaching staff, and in discussing the best ways to approach each opposing hitter, he quickly earned the respect of both those in uniform and the front office. “Dana has a great eye for baseball,” said Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin. “Catching in the bullpen, he could tell you something you were doing wrong while you were doing it. He had that kind of eye. He’s a very learned baseball man. Awesome.”17

One sign of the high regard players had for LeVangie came in 1998, when he was voted a full share of playoff bonus money after the Red Sox reached the postseason as a wild-card team.18 At the time, LeVangie was still spending the offseason working as a bar manager, while his wife, Traci, taught sixth grade.19 The couple would eventually have two children, a son, Liam, and a daughter, Avery, both of whom also excelled athletically.20 Pedro Martínez, Boston’s ace starter and arguably the best pitcher in the majors during this period, was another big LeVangie fan. Martínez suffered a variety of injuries to his priceless right arm, and throwing sessions with LeVangie – often under the scrutiny of coaches and media members – was a standard step in his rehab routine.21 When reliever-turned-starter Derek Lowe was having trouble with his mechanics, working with LeVangie helped turn things around.

As an area native who was living with his young family in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, year-round, LeVangie had the time of his life when Boston broke through and finally won the World Series in 2004.22 “It was incredible,” he said of that season. “Not only getting to where we had to be in the playoffs, but we had a great group of guys who came in expecting to win every day and have fun doing it. Then beating the Yankees (after being) down 3-0 was like winning the World Series itself. I probably didn’t sleep for 12 days straight.”23

Helping end Boston’s 86-year title drought earned LeVangie a promotion to a new role in the organization: major-league scout. First as a pro scout (in 2005), and then as an advance scout (2006-2012), he now spent the majority of his time traveling away from the team rather than with it. As Bill Nowlin described the role in a SABR essay “Dana LeVangie: Every Game Is a Road Game,” the advance scout “typically travels four to eight days ahead of the team, scouting a team the Sox will face a couple of series later. … LeVangie never sees his own team play. Every game is a road game, and he never gets to enjoy the companionship of his colleagues.”24

Even though he was no longer around the team regularly, LeVangie remained a favorite of Boston’s veteran players. Schilling was among the pitchers who praised the work of the team’s advance scouts as vital to helping him put together an effective game plan, and catcher Jason Varitek said, “Having been with Dana and having developed a great deal of trust in him and his knowledge of the game … he observes the game so much there’s probably nobody in the advance-scouting world that I would trust as much as him.”25

There were certain times in particular that the skills of LeVangie and his fellow advance scouts were especially appreciated. When Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon picked off Colorado’s Matt Holliday at first base in the eighth inning of Game Two of the 2007 World Series, it was advance scout Todd Claus’ report on Holliday’s running tendencies – passed on through Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills – that helped Papelbon gain the edge needed to make the play.26

A few days later, after the Red Sox completed their four-game sweep of the Rockies to clinch their second World Series championship in four years, rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia took a moment during Boston’s champagne-soaked celebration to praise the team’s scouting staff. “Our scouts were unbelievable,” Pedroia told reporters. “They’re the best in baseball. You’ve got so much confidence because they give you so much information.”27

USA Today writer Bob Nightengale was so impressed with Boston’s dominance of Colorado that he devoted an entire story to the team’s preparation. “Chief advance scouts Todd Claus and Dana LeVangie provided reports so precise the Red Sox players thought they were going into the field with cheat sheets,” Nightengale wrote.28 The statistics bore this out: Boston batters hit .333 during the Series, the second-best team average in World Series history, while the hard-hitting Rockies were held to a .218 mark. 

It took back-to-back disappointing seasons by the Red Sox – the “chicken and beer” collapse of September 2011 that cost manager Terry Francona his job, and the last-place finish of 2012 that resulted in Francona’s successor Bobby Valentine losing his – to bring LeVangie back in from the road. Valentine’s replacement as manager was John Farrell, who as pitching coach with the team from 2007 to 2010 had benefited from LeVangie’s wise counsel. Farrell reached out to LeVangie and offered him a position as bullpen coach.

“I got a phone call from John Farrell two weeks before spring training and he asked how interested I was,” LeVangie said. “It was kind of a no-brainer.”29 Part of the appeal to LeVangie was the chance to have more time at home with his wife and kids in East Bridgewater; he estimated for reporters that he had spent an average of 270 days on the road each of the past seven years.

For Farrell, his new coach checked several boxes. Like longtime catcher and team captain Varitek, with whom he had a close relationship, LeVangie was already very familiar with Boston’s pitchers and catchers. His own experience as a top-notch defender meant he could serve in a dual role as a catching instructor, and he could continue to assist in advance scouting as well. “He has been a valuable asset to the Red Sox in a variety of roles,” Farrell said. “His vast knowledge of the major leagues, particularly the American League, will enable him to make an impact with our staff and with our bullpen.”30

The impact Farrell was hoping for came immediately. After compiling a 4.70 ERA as a staff in 2012 (12th in the AL), Red Sox pitchers improved to a 3.79 ERA (sixth) with LeVangie preparing game plans with pitching coach Juan Nieves. Among position players, one of the season’s brightest stories was the defensive progress made by heavy-hitting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia – thanks in part to extensive work put in with LeVangie.31 Not coincidentally, Boston’s record changed dramatically as well – from 69-93 to 97-65 – and after a worst-to-first finish in the competitive AL East, the Red Sox went on to beat the St Louis Cardinals in the 2013 World Series.32

As the fortunes of the team varied during the next four seasons, LeVangie’s value remained impactful. Red Sox catchers ranked second in the major leagues by throwing out 31.6 percent of opposing baserunners from 2014 to 2017, and the 3.15 ERA compiled by Boston relievers in 2017 was second-best in the majors as well. LeVangie was lauded for his work mixing and matching relievers for different game situations. When Saltalamacchia left as a free agent, LeVangie helped mentor young catchers Blake Swihart and Christian Vázquez. The latter would emerge as one of the league’s most respected young receivers.

Late in the 2015 season, management showed its respect for and faith in LeVangie once again. When Farrell was forced to take a leave of absence from the team to undergo lymphoma treatment, and bench coach Torey Lovullo was named interim manager, he elevated LeVangie to interim bench coach for the remainder of the campaign.33 “To have that bench coach there to challenge some of my thoughts, to endorse some of my thoughts, is going to be nice to have, especially given Dana’s background,” Lovullo said. “There’s immediate trust there.”34

Yet another promotion for LeVangie, this time without an interim label, was to come. After Boston lost in the divisional round of the AL playoffs for the second straight season in 2017, Farrell was fired and replaced by former Boston utility player Alex Cora. Then, in a surprising move, Cora named LeVangie his pitching coach. LeVangie was the first nonpitcher to hold this role on the Red Sox since Mike Roarke in 1994, as well as the only pitching coach in the majors in 2018 to claim that distinction.35 But Cora, who had gotten to know LeVangie while an infielder with Boston from 2005 to 2008, defended his selection.

“I was very impressed with Dana when I played here,” Cora said. “He understands the game, and it seems like we talk the same language. When everybody started talking about me being a manager, he was a guy that I always considered was going to be part of my staff. He’s well-prepared, and versatile enough that he can work with catchers and be a pitching coach. I’m very comfortable with Dana being in this role. He knows the guys, and he’s going to be someone that I’m going to really rely on and I’m going to trust.”36

Pedro Martínez was similarly enthused. Arriving at spring training in 2018 for his sixth season as a special instructor with Boston, Martínez told reporters he planned to be more hands-on with current Red Sox pitchers than in the past due to his friendship with and respect for LeVangie. “Every year I do enjoy it. This year, it’s special,” Martínez said. “I’m committed to helping out my friend Dana and the organization, and I have a little bit more leverage so I’m using it.”37

Cora agreed, adding that “Pedro connecting with Dana, and for us to understand he’s not stepping on anybody’s toes is great. It’s a great situation not only for us as a staff, but also the players.”38

For one year, at least, the arrangement worked beautifully. Red Sox pitchers ranked third in the American League in 2018 with a 3.75 ERA, and held opponents to a .237 batting average against – the lowest mark by a Boston staff in the Live Ball Era (post-1920).39 Partnering with Cora, LeVangie carefully monitored the workload of top starters Chris Sale, David Price, and Rick Porcello – not allowing them to go too deep into games too often – with a goal that all would remain healthy and strong for the stretch drive.

This was particularly important with Sale, the ace of the staff, who had struggled in September of the previous season. When, despite these precautions, Sale’s velocity diminished in October 2018, LeVangie worked with him on his mechanics and encouraged him to “save his bullets” and not throw too many fastballs.40 And after romping to the American League East title with a 108-54 record, the Red Sox went on to win 11 of 14 postseason games. Sale, who was briefly hospitalized with a stomach ailment in the playoffs, wound up closing out Game Five of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers – clinching the title for Boston.41

Players and coaches heaped praise on LeVangie during and after the 2018 season. “Dana definitely goes about it the right way,” said Price. “He puts in the work and the time. Whenever he says something, I may not know it at the time, but as soon as he says it, I’m like, ‘That is what’s going on, and that’s something I can fix.’” Matt Barnes credited LeVangie for helping him adapt to the majors and relief pitching, stating that “he had this passion for the game, and for knowing each guy on their own level.” Varitek, who had worked with LeVangie for 20 years as a player and coach, cited his “unbelievable game vision” and “ability to see the game through different lenses.”42  

Despite such support, and his long list of accomplishments, LeVangie eventually met the fate that befalls almost all coaches and managers after things go sour. When the defending World Series champion Red Sox failed in 2019 to even reach the postseason, finishing third in the AL East with an 84-78 record, the club’s team ERA of 4.70 (19th in the majors) stood out as a major cause.43 Sale, beset by injuries, saw his ERA balloon from 2.11 to 4.40, and fellow starters Price and Nathan Eovaldi were also hurt. Boston’s relief pitching – a key to the previous year’s success – stumbled to rebound from the loss of closer Craig Kimbrel to free agency.

Just after turning 50, and completing his 29th year in the Red Sox organization, LeVangie was out as pitching coach – reassigned in October 2019 to a position as a pro scout for the team.44 Because of his respect around the game, there was some thought that LeVangie might be offered a coaching job with another club. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe speculated that it could be as a bench, pitching, or bullpen coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had just hired former Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington as their GM.45

As of the end of the 2023 season, however, LeVangie remained with Boston in a pro scouting role. He was no longer in uniform, and no longer interacting with players on a daily basis. But there was certainly no doubt in anybody’s mind within the organization that after 33 years and four World Series titles with the Red Sox, he was still finding ways to help his hometown team.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, the Baseball Cube, and the 2019 Boston Red Sox Media Guide.

Notes

1 Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin: Don’t Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox’s Impossible Playoff Run (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2014), 146-147.

2 Prior to 2004, there had been 25 teams to trail a best-of-seven series 3-0. Of these 25, 20 lost the fourth game, 3 lost the fifth, and 2 lost the sixth. None had reached a Game Seven.

3 Julian McWilliams, “LeVangie Out as Sox Pitching Coach,” Boston Globe, October 9, 2019: C4.

4 LeVangie’s mother remarried after his father’s death and became Jeanne Fenton.

5 Howard Herman, “2 Sox Fans Live a Dream in NY-Penn,” Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), August 4, 1991: 21.

6 Mike Kehoe, “Dana LeVangie: Journey to the Big Leagues,” Main Sheet (Cape Cod Community College school paper), April 9, 2019: online edition. https://mainsheetcapecod.wordpress.com/2019/04/09/dana-levangie-journey-to-the-big-leagues/.

7 Kehoe.

8 AIC draft picks prior to LeVangie, per The Baseball Cube: Robert Carlson (1965), Charles Paglierani (1969), Tom Farias (1972-73), Paul Stockley (1979), Jim Van Houten (1983-84), and David Brown (1989).

9 LeVangie’s senior statistics vary depending on the source; these are from the 2019 Red Sox Media Guide. The Northeast-10 record book has him leading the conference in 1991 with a .473 average, 10 homers, and 66 RBIs, but it’s unclear if those numbers are only from conference games.

10 List of Northeast 10 Hall of Famers, found on conference’s official website: https://www.northeast10.org/halloffame/Complete_HOF_List.

11 Paul Harber, “Former Prospect Makes It to the Bigs as Sox Bullpen Catcher,” Boston Globe, September 26, 1999: 33.

12 Harber.

13 Gary Crockett, “LeVangie Keeps L-Sox Winning,” Lynchburg (Virginia) News and Advance, May 14, 1994: 13.

14 Crockett.

15 Marvin Pave, “Sox Scout Takes Role as Bullpen Coach,” Boston Globe, March 10, 2013 (online edition). https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2013/03/10/former-whitman-hanson-standout-dana-levangie-back-field-for-red-sox/lt9O5JuBCldJIQxHxDhwfP/story.ht.

16 Pave.

17 Bill Nowlin, “Dana LeVangie: Every Game Is a Road Game,” in Jim Sandoval and Bill Nowlin, eds., Can He Play? A Look at Baseball Scouts and Their Profession (Phoenix: SABR, 2011), 160.

18 Harber.

19 Harber.

20 Both LeVangie kids played Division I college sports; Liam was a right-handed pitcher at Bryant University, and Avery a forward on the Northeastern University women’s soccer team.

21 Gordon Edes, “Martinez to Skip Start; Williams Out of Loop,” Boston Globe, June 13, 2001: 83.

22 In the official 2004 Red Sox team photograph that hangs in bars and rec rooms throughout New England to this day, LeVangie is in uniform and fifth from the right in the second row, just to the right of rookie pitcher Lenny DiNardo.

23 Erin Shannon, “Whitman Native Dana Levangie Settles In as Red Sox Bullpen Coach,” Brockton Enterprise, April 8, 2013 (online edition). https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/sports/pro/2013/04/08/whitman-native-dana-levangie-settles/40055357007/.

24 Nowlin.

25 Nowlin.

26 Gordon Edes, “Sox’ Scouts’ Honor: Attention to Detail,” Boston Globe, October 28, 2007: 33.

27 Bob Nightengale, “Scouts Play Critical Role in Series Sweep,” USA Today, October 30, 2007, reprinted in Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal: 15.

28 Nightengale.

29 Shannon.

30 Nick Cafardo, “LeVangie Gets the Nod,” Boston Globe, February 6, 2013: C5.

31 Nick Cafardo, “Catcher Handling This,” Boston Globe, May 21, 2013: C2.

32 After the 2013 season, LeVangie was part of the Red Sox three-day holiday caravan that brought the team’s three World Series trophies to local schools, businesses, and hospitals.

33 As a result of these moves, Class-A pitching coach Bob Kipper was elevated to interim bullpen coach. The Red Sox went 28-20 under this arrangement, although Baseball-Reference credits Farrell as manager for the entire 78-84 season. Farrell returned as manager at the start of the 2016 season.

34 Peter Abraham, “Coaching Staff Gets Makeover,” Boston Globe, August 17, 2015: C3.

35 Like LeVangie, Roarke was a catcher with New England roots (born in West Warwick, Rhode Island), whose success as a college player led to his being signed by a Boston team – although in Roarke’s case it was the Boston Braves who signed him out of Boston College in 1952. After nearly a decade in the minors, Roarke hit .230 as a backup catcher for the Detroit Tigers from 1961 to 1964 before stints as a major-league bullpen catcher and later a pitching coach for several clubs including the Red Sox.

36 Audio from interview with Cora upon LeVangie’s hiring, archived on MLB.com “Film Room.” https://www.mlb.com/video/LeVangie-on-joining-sox-staff-c1866646883.

37 Ian Browne, “Pitching Staff Getting Tips from Pedro,” MLB.com, February 16, 2018. https://www.mlb.com/news/red-sox-staff-getting-tips-from-pedro-martinez-c266612762.

38 Browne.

39 The previous lowest batting average compiled against a Boston pitching staff post-1920 came against the 1967 “Impossible Dream” Red Sox that also reached the World Series. (LeVangie bio, 2019 Red Sox Media Guide).

40 Alex Speier, “Coach: Chris Sale Is Fine,” Boston Globe (appeared in Hartford Courant, October 15, 2018: C3.  

41 LeVangie’s knowledge of major league pitchers was crucial at the 2018 trade deadline, when he identified Nathan Eovaldi of Tampa Bay as someone who could help Boston with some small tweaks to his delivery. Once he was picked up, Eovaldi worked with LeVangie and assistant coach Brian Bannister to make the adjustments and recorded a 3.33 ERA in the rest of the regular season – then lowered it to 1.61 in 22⅓ dominant postseason innings.

42 Chad Jennings, “Dana LeVangie Is a Red Sox Institution,” The Athletic, October 2, 2019.

43 The ERA for Boston’s starters was even worse – 4.95 – than the team’s overall total.

44 LeVangie’s replacement as Red Sox pitching coach, former big-league pitcher Dave Bush, held the position for four seasons. Bush was fired after a last-place finish in 2023 during which Boston’s starting pitchers averaged 4.8 innings per start, 27th in the majors.

45 Peter Abraham, “Red Sox Rotation Fix? A Few Ways It Could Go,” Boston Globe, November 24, 2019: C6.