BOSTON - David Price took the mound for his second simulated game on Thursday.

The lefty fired 50 pitches over three innings, using all four of his pitches. He faced batters Chase D'Arnaud and Chris Young.

It marked the first time the Red Sox tracked his velocity and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was encouraged by Price's 93-95 mph fastball.

Price will throw a light bullpen session on Saturday in Minnesota and then a four-inning sim game on Tuesday in Milwaukee.

The Red Sox kept Price with the team as he's built up innings in order to directly monitor his progress in a controlled environment. Dombrowski wanted manger John Farrell and pitching coaches Carl Willis and Brian Bannister as well as Boston's training staff to watch each session.

"In the very beginning we really wanted to put a feel on it because, and I think the world of him, but David has that tendency as he's building to not build," Dombrowski said. "Wants to go from zero to 100. And I thought that having John involved and our staff involved would be much better off to have. Not that he would not listen to anybody, but when John says 'Hey back off a but little here' or Carl or our training staff, they know him much better in that regard."

After Price's next outing the Red Sox will determine if they want him to throw another sim game with staff monitoring or if it would be more beneficial to send Price on a minor-league rehab assignment.

Either way, if he keeps progressing at his current pace with no setbacks, he could be ready to return to the Red Sox rotation in a month.

"Main thing is, the way the ball's coming out of his hand and the way he's felt afterwards, he looks really good right now," Farrell said.

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