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Andrew Bailey is eager for a second chance in Boston.

On Tuesday, the Red Sox officially announced the former Red Sox reliever would be returning to the team as its next pitching coach. Bailey, who spent the past four seasons as the San Francisco Giants’ pitching coach, helped three different pitchers finish among the top six in National League Cy Young Award voting, including Kevin Gausman (sixth in 2021), Carlos Rodón (sixth in 2022), and Logan Webb (second in 2023).

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As the Red Sox seek to upgrade their pitching staff, both by challenging their current pitchers differently and by acquiring arms to fortify the group, Bailey will be leading the way.

Bailey’s first stint in Boston as a player — traded in a package deal from Oakland to Boston for outfielder Josh Reddick ahead of the 2012 season — didn’t pan out well, with two injury-riddled seasons in 2012 and 2013. The 39-year-old is hoping for a better tenure this time around.

“It’s not too frequent you get a second opportunity to kind of right the ship in a different capacity, so to say,” he said. “I’m excited. I’m motivated. I’m ecstatic about the opportunity because I know it doesn’t come around that often. And I know what baseball and the Boston Red Sox mean to the city.”

Bailey pitched eight seasons in the majors, beginning in 2009 when he was named American League Rookie of the Year. After retiring ahead of the 2018 season, he spent two years with the Los Angeles Angels — first as a coaching assistant and video replay coordinator, before becoming the team’s bullpen coach the following season. In 2020, he took over as the Giants’ pitching coach and oversaw a four-year stretch in which Giants pitchers ranked sixth in baseball with a 3.80 ERA while allowing the fewest home runs (525) and posting the third-highest strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.16).

Despite his success in San Francisco, the New Jersey native had been trying to move back to the East Coast and be closer to his family and was interested in the Red Sox’s pitching coach job even before his close friend and former teammate Craig Breslow was named chief baseball officer.

“I was definitely interested in Boston prior to Craig being hired and the interview process,” Bailey said. “That’s the reason I reached out super early to (executive vice president Brian O’Halloran) and a couple of my contacts over there and told them where I was professionally and personally. I live just about two hours away from Boston. So the ability to get back home really whenever I want, I can. And that means the world to my kids and my wife and myself and throughout this process.”

As the Red Sox begin to revamp their overall pitching infrastructure with Breslow leading the way, Bailey will be tasked with turning around the club’s big league staff. As teammates in Boston and Oakland, Bailey and Breslow dreamed of working together in baseball down the line, and now that dream is a reality.

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“I think it’s a pretty unique relationship,” Bailey said. “Obviously, we both kind of have grown separately in other avenues of the game of baseball and have learned differently, but to be able to kind of joke around like that with a former teammate and a true friend, and now be able to kind of see that path laid out and be able to compete together in another capacity is special.

“I think there’s a lot of alignment with Craig and I, philosophically and how we go about executing that,” he added.

His success in San Francisco — helping Rodón and Gausman find new life in their careers while helping Webb develop into an ace — is a key reason the Red Sox were as interested in him as he was in them. Whether he can help Brayan Bello continue to develop or assist Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck in finding their best roles or help Chris Sale find another level remains to be seen. But his experience with the Giants in working with a variety of pitchers has elevated his reputation across the game.

“As coaches, we’re consultants for the player,” Bailey said. “We’re not hiding the ball, hiding any information. We give them the facts. We want them to know how the industry values them. We want to maximize their earning potential, because if we are able to maximize performance and earning potential, we in turn are creating value for the organization and winning ballgames.”

Bailey offered a few hints as to how he might handle the job in Boston, leaning heavily on other departments to work together to create well-rounded players.

“Each and every player needs to be coached just a little differently,” he said. “And that’s why I feel strongly that, for me, I don’t need to be that guy all the time that is managing or coaching or delivering the information. Each staff member, from the bullpen catchers to our analysts to our pitching assistants to the manager, we all have unique relationships with every player. We all interact with players differently. We definitely want to support them as best as possible.”

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While he hasn’t had much time to dig in yet on his new team, from afar he marveled at Bello’s development, noting his “potential to be a frontline starter,” and has already talked on the phone with Sale.

“There’s a lot of special arms on this team,” Bailey said. “And I think we hold ourselves accountable. We hold ourselves to high standards, and we’ll be right where we need to be.”

(Top photo: Lachlan Cunningham / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

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