Penny, who was signed as a free agent during the offseason, made his third Spring Training start on April 2nd against the Twins, throwing 79 pitches (49 for strikes) and allowed three runs on five hits.

According to Adam Kilgore’s Extra Bases blog on Boston.com, (http://www.boston.com/), felt better on the mound than he did at any point last season.

Penny told Kilgore that he never reached 90 mph last season but reached 96 mph on one pitch versus the Twins.

The Red Sox enter the season with as deep a starting rotation as there is in major league baseball. Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield will join Penny in the rotation with John Smoltz expected to return from rehab in early June.

As if that isn’t enough, top pitching prospect Clay Buchholz had a tremendous Spring but was demoted to AAA Pawtucket to begin the season.