The newest member of the Boston Red Sox is left-handed reliever Tyler Samaniego — except he’s not a natural lefty.

The Red Sox recalled Samaniego from Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday, April 8, after placing right-handed reliever Justin Slaten on the 15-day injured list.

The 27-year-old has risen through the minor leagues in part because of his deceptive delivery, which left-handed hitters struggle to pick up.

However, any bio page you find of him will note that he's a right-handed hitter.

That’s no mistake. Samaniego is right-handed in just about everything he does — except throwing a baseball. He now throws a fastball up to 97 miles per hour, but he wasn’t always a lefty.

"Naturally, I’m right-handed in pretty much everything I do," he told NewBostonPost at Polar Park, home of the Worcester Red Sox, on March 28. "But when I was young, my dad would knock the ball out of my right hand and put it in my left hand. So that’s just kind of how that happened. Because he was the opposite — he was all left-handed but threw right — so he wanted me to throw left-handed."

If not for his father, Samaniego thinks he'd be a right-handed thrower.

"I think naturally I would, but he would just put it in my left, and I’d throw it that way," he said.

His crossfire delivery from a low, third-base side arm slot creates a tough angle, making the ball appear to come from behind left-handed hitters and harder to pick up, according to SoxProspects.

But it wasn't always that way. Growing up, Samaniego mostly had an overhand delivery on the mound. It wasn't until high school that he made his second key adjustment.

"When I was in high school early on, I would throw more over the top," he said. "Then, when I started working in summer ball my junior and senior year, we kind of just dropped the slot down because that’s where I would throw from the infield — like turning a double play from first base — and it felt way more natural. So we just kind of ran with that, and I could get a lot of arm-side run. That just came naturally, and that slot was natural, so we stuck with it."

Samaniego later elevated his pitching by dropping the bat.

The Huntsville, Alabama, native initially attended Northeast Community College in Booneville, Mississippi, where he hit .403 as a freshman and .358 as a sophomore. He then committed to South Alabama, an NCAA Division 1 school, as a two-way player, but that didn't last.

"After a couple bullpens, they were like, 'Hey, you’re throwing pretty hard from the left side. You’ve got a real chance here. I want you to think about pitching only.' I fought that over for a little bit and decided it was probably the best decision for me," he said.

After two seasons at South Alabama, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the 15th round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Last year, he held left-handed batters to a .151 batting average – mostly in Double-A Altoona – and was traded to the Red Sox in a deal that also involved pitcher Johan Oviedo in December.

During his time in the minors, he developed another skill: cutting his own hair.

While it might not do much for him on the mound, it was part of his strategy to live off a minor league salary while he chased his big league dream.

"[It was] Just trial and error," he said. "As I moved up north for baseball, the prices jump, and I got tired of paying 50 bucks for a haircut. So I bought my own clippers and started learning. (laughs)"