Tommy Kahnle's latest interview hints he'll be the new Aroldis Chapman with Red Sox

In case you missed it over the spring, the Boston Red Sox are polishing off a new weapon to be unleashed while also checking off yet another New York Yankees retread from the list when they signed Tommy Kahnle to a minor league deal.

Yankees fans know Kahnle well for a multitude of reasons. The 36-year-old spent two different stints in the Bronx and was mostly successful, though his most recent tenure was punctuated by a horrific performance in the 2024 World Series.

Over the years, we've seen Kahnle evolve from a guy who could touch the high-90s on the gun to a crafty changeup artist. In fact, after he signed with the Detroit Tigers last winter, much was made about how he developed different variations of his changeup to generate more drop. The pitch had become something of a meme after he threw it 61 consecutive times in the 2024 postseason.

In Detroit, Kahnle hit a wall. He saw his ERA spike from 2.11 with the Yankees in 2024 to 4.43. He began the year serving in a closer-by-committee situation with Will Vest, but was relegated exclusively to low-leverage duty by season's end.

At the tail end of 2025, Kahnle had something of a resurgence heading into the playoffs. He credited a reworked changeup for the improvement.

Former Yankee Tommy Kahnle joins Red Sox and has pitching revelation

When the Yankees traded for Kahnle at the 2017 deadline, he began his pinstriped tenure averaging 97.6 miles per hour on his fastball and throwing the pitch 56.4% of the time. His changeup was his next-most common offering at 25.1%, and he also relied on his slider a decent amount, coming in at 15.9%.

The sands shifted for him over the years. The slider got shelved. His velocity diminished, and his change usage crept up more and more. Last year, he threw the change a ridiculous 85.6% of the time. In an interview with A.J. Pierzynski for Foul Territory, Kahnle detailed how the Red Sox are helping him with his repertoire as he builds up his arm for a possible big league call-up.

"These outings since I've been with Boston, for me, it's been like an exhale, essentially. I had [Jason] Varitek come up to me in the first couple of days and kind of run through where do I like the catcher to set up on certain pitches, when do I like to throw them in the counts, like slider, changeup, sinker. Everything. Every outing I've had so far this year, I've probably been using it all, and I feel like I've gotten better just by doing that instead of spamming changeups 85% of the time," Kahnle said.

No duh. The point of a changeup is in the name — to change up what you're throwing to catch a hitter off guard. Sounds eerily familiar to Aroldis Chapman claiming Connor Wong taught him that it was important to locate his pitches.

Kahnle has always seemed like a good guy, but we're hoping that his first season in Boston doesn't go as well as Chapman's. If he does turn back the clock, hopefully it's not because the Red Sox made him believe that fastballs matter.