Archive for Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox didn’t trade Henry Owens during the Winter Meetings. They still might trade him, depending on what kind of offers they receive for the 23-year-old lefty. While there’s no such thing as too much pitching, Boston does have depth in that department, and Dave Dombrowski likes power arms. Owens isn’t necessarily velocity deficient, but he’s more finesse than flamethrower.

Once viewed as untouchable, Owens is no longer looked at as sure-thing stud. He failed to dominate in Triple-A, and his 11 big league starts were a mixed bag. The club’s former top pitching prospect split eight decisions and finished with a 4.57 ERA and a 4.28 FIP.

As expected, Owens showed off an excellent changeup, which he threw 24.7% of the time after being called up in early August. How well he commanded his fastball largely dictated whether he was rock-and-rolling or getting rocked by opposing batters. The fastball averaged 89.1 mph, a tick or two less than in past years.

Owens talked about his first two months of MLB action in the closing days of September.

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Owens on pitch sequencing: “It’s definitely an evolving process for me. When I came up and pitched against the Yankees and Detroit – the teams I faced early on – I was predominantly fastball. I was trying to establish my stuff and see how it played up here. After a few outings, I started mixing it up more. Not my repertoire, per se, but the sequencing changed. Of course, it can change in any game, and depend somewhat on the lineup.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Red Sox just paid an enormous amount of money for the baseball-throwing services of David Price. The deal makes sense, as Boston struggled last year in that department, and now they’ve basically ensured, barring injury or anomalous performance, that they’ll struggle less in that department next season. Price is a an exceptional pitcher. That was a well-established fact before he was handed $30 million a year — dating back to his breakout 2010 campaign with the Rays, in fact. However, this past season provided glimpses at a repertoire that might facilitate the next stage of David Price, Pitcher, and it was centered around the use of his cutter and the improvement of his changeup.

Jeff went over the changes in Price’s cutter usage in late September, but the main premise is this: Price started throwing more cutters, throwing them harder, and locating them further inside to right-handed hitters toward the end of last season. As we’ll see, that impacted how successful his changeup was in different parts of the zone.

Now, the changeup: we often hear about how difficult they’re to learn. They’re a “feel” pitch, and we’re told that, because of that, they need a lot of work — work that usually comes from experience. It takes confidence to throw any type of pitch well, and when confidence is lacking in a particular offering, the pitcher is reluctant to throw it very often. This is a little different for left-handed pitchers: as Eno pointed out in this piece, left-handed starters throw changeups 65% more often than right-handers do. Lefties inherently have a difficult job because the majority of hitters are right-handed; to combat this, they throw more changeups, the pitch with the best reverse platoon split.

Price has always thrown a changeup, going back to his debut in the league. And, fitting the narrative that changeups are found with more experience, he’s thrown them with increased usage every season of his career. Take a look at his pitch usage every season since 2010:

In 2015, he cracked the 20% mark with his changeup usage, and he’s now transitioned firmly away from using his curveball as his main secondary pitch. In truth, he had already transitioned away from that approach beginning in 2013, but this year marked not only another increase in usage, but a few other adjustments that merit attention from us.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Bere had an interesting observation about Joe Borowski, who saved 45 games for the Indians in 2007. According to Bere – currently Cleveland’s bullpen coach – Borowski threw a lot of backup sliders. Contrary to what you might think, that was a good thing.

“A lot of times when he got a guy to swing and miss, it was with the one that just kind of stayed,” Bere told me. “They would react to what they were seeing out of the hand, the spin, but while it had the tightness of a true slider, it didn’t break like one.

“Hitters will tell you that something that backs up on them is hard to hit. A hanger, they’ll crush. But something that backs up – that last second it’s not going where they thought it was going to go – they”ll have trouble with it. You can see it from the swings they take.”

Intrigued by what Bere told me, I set out in search of further opinions on the effective, yet almost always unintentional, backup slider.

Alan Nathan, the man behind The Physics of Baseball, shared a scientific perspective. Read the rest of this entry »

The designated hitter rule has been in place in the American League since 1973. Some like it. Others would prefer that pitchers swing the bat. They do in the National League, and that’s part of the debate. Does it make sense for the league to play with different rules, or should there be uniformity?

I asked five pitchers, five position players, and five coaches/managers – many of whom have experience in both leagues – for their opinion of the DH rule. Here is what they had to say.

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Steve Buechele, Rangers bench coach: “I think the DH is good for baseball. The pitcher hitting is the purest form of the game, but having a DH adds to the excitement. Some of the DHs out there are players people pay a lot to watch.

“We’ve done it for so long now, and I’m OK with that, but I wouldn’t mind seeing both leagues go with it at some point. It’s not a priority for me, but I’d like to see it be consistent.”

Clay Buchholz, Red Sox pitcher: “I think it will eventually happen in both leagues. A lot of money is paid for starting pitchers, and many of us aren’t comfortable hitting. Everybody is a competitor, so when you hit a ground ball, you want to run it out. Guys get injuries running the bases.

“I’d be in favor of having the DH in both leagues. It would make baseball better. I think there should be uniformity, but only if the DH was in both leagues.” Read the rest of this entry »

Last week’s column mentioned that Reggie Cleveland was the last native of Saskatchewan to win a big league game prior to Andrew Albers doing so two years ago. The 1981 decision wasn’t his most-notable feat. On September 25, 1977, he allowed 18 hits in a complete-game win.

Pitching for the Red Sox, the right-hander allowed 15 singles, a pair of doubles, and a home run as Boston cruised to a 12-5 victory at Tiger Stadium. He struck out one and didn’t issue a free pass.

Earlier this week, I asked Cleveland about the game. The first thing he did was laugh.

“You have to be pretty good to give up 18 hits and still be in the game,” Cleveland told me with a smile. “That’s a major league record.”

It actually isn’t a record, at least not if you include extra-inning games. In 1932, Eddie Rommel of the Philadelphia Athletics allowed 29 hits – and 14 runs! — over 17 frames in a win over the Indians. What Cleveland did is still remarkable, and I asked him how it came to be. Read the rest of this entry »

A pitcher throwing a no-hitter typically receives the silent treatment once the late innings roll around. His teammates begin giving him a wide berth, leaving him alone with his thoughts. No one wants to be the guy who ruined a no-hitter by doing or saying the wrong thing, which includes invading a pitcher’s solitude.

What do pitchers think of the superstitious convention? Do they like being avoided between innings, or would they prefer everything to be as normal as possible? I asked several pitchers, some of whom have thrown a no-hitter. Here are their responses:

Clay Buchholz, Red Sox: “In the sixth inning of mine, I was sitting in the dugout by myself. No one talked to me. I was here for Jon Lester’s and it was the same thing. When Josh Beckett threw his, he was walking around talking to guys. He treated his a little differently, but for the most part, everybody leaves you alone. But it wouldn’t bother me if someone talked to me.”

R.A. Dickey, Blue Jays: “It’s part of tradition. You see the pitcher sitting at the end of the bench. When Johan (Santana) threw his, I was in a different spot every time, starting in the sixth inning. Everyone wants to feel they had a part in it, psychologically. That’s what every superstition is. You put the right sock on before the left and feel that’s part of what helps you succeed. It’s a bunch of gibberish, of course.”

Dennis Eckersley, Red Sox broadcaster: “Guys did (avoid me), but every game I sort of had my own place to sit. But having a no-no, everybody knows that. Later in the game, they didn’t come near me. I was so young then – I was 22 years old – and looking back, I didn’t know the difference.”

Doug Fister, Nationals: “I don’t like to have things changing. I want everything to be normal. Even if it’s one of my teammates – I don’t want them to start acting weird or do anything out of the ordinary. Just do the same thing you would if I’ve given up three hits or 10 hits. I want everything to be consistent.”

Kevin Gausman, Orioles: “It’s kind of an unspoken rule. You try to not be the reason – you don’t want the pitcher to say, ‘He never talks to me, but he came and talked to me and that’s why I gave up a hit.’ But honestly, most guys don’t talk to the pitcher on the days he pitches anyway. Some guys are really social on the days they pitch, but I usually only talk to a couple of guys.”

Ubaldo Jimenez, Orioles: “I’d rather things were just normal. That way you don’t have to think about how you’re doing something different. I would like to be normal, talking to the guys and pretending everything is the same. When I threw mine, some people (avoided me) but I talked to a couple of the guys. They came to me and I came to them.”

Daniel Norris, Blue Jays: “The other day, Hutch (Drew Hutchison) had five or six no-hit innings and we were just trying to keep it on the low. That’s around the time you start noticing. We were kind of staying normal, but we definitely knew what was going on.”

Henry Owens, Red Sox prospect: “I refrain from saying anything if someone else has one going. Ask Brian Johnson about my first start this year. He said something right before I gave up a hit (in the sixth inning). But as far as superstitions go, I don’t really believe in them. Everyone was saying, ‘Brian, apologize,’ but I told him I didn’t care.”

Jordan Zimmermann, Nationals: “It’s just something they’ve been doing over the years, and it doesn’t affect me either way. Some pitchers don’t want to be bothered, but I’d rather keep it the same as if I was giving up three, four, or five hits. I don’t like sitting there by myself and not having anyone to talk to. You realize a no-hitter is going on whether there are people talking to you or not.”

Hanley Ramirez is a good case study for Xander Bogaerts. The early-career personalities differ – Hanley was aloof and Xander is humble – but their profiles have a lot in common. Each came up through the Red Sox system with “Wunderkind” stamped on his forehead and nascent hitting knowledge under his helmet.

A notable difference is their rookie results. Ramirez captured NL rookie-of-the-year honors after being dealt to the Marlins. Bogaerts struggled to find his stroke and, relative to expectations, bombed in Boston. Before drawing too many conclusions, consider that Hanley was 22 at the time, a full year older than his counterpart was last season.

Contextually, Bogaerts was better as a 21-year-old than Ramirez. The youngster’s 2014 numbers weren’t enthusiastic — .240/.297/.362 with 12 home runs – but they came against big-league competition. At the same age, Hanley hit .271/.335/.385 with six home runs in the Double-A Eastern League.

Back when he was a Portland Sea Dog, the 31-year-old slugger had a rudimentary approach. “I like to stay through the middle and hit the ball at the pitcher’s head,” Ramirez told me in 2004. “I like to see what they throw and then react to their pitches.”

A few weeks ago in Fort Myers, I asked him what has changed since our decade old conversation. Read the rest of this entry »

Glen Perkins and Anthony Varvaro have reverse splits – specifically with regard to allowing runners — for distinctly different reasons. The Twins southpaw attributes his to spatial relationships. The Red Sox righty points to a swinging gate.

Before we get to their thoughts on the subject, let’s look at the numbers.

Last season, left-handed batters hit .284/.324/.448 against Perkins, while right-handed batters hit .249/.278/.422. Two years ago, lefties hit .236/.271/.273, righties .183/.251/.317.

Right-handed batters were .274/.341/.376 against Varvaro in 2013, while left-handed batters hit .207/.267/.281. Last season, righties hit .273/.314/.406, lefties .198/.284/.481.

Varvaro, who was acquired by Boston from the Braves in December, has been queried about his reverse splits countless times. He doesn’t have a definitive answer – at least not a comprehensive one – but he does have theories. Read the rest of this entry »

Cla Meredith’s MLB debut was inauspicious. Actually, it was an abomination. Called up to Boston less than a year after being drafted out of Virginia Commonwealth University, Meredith came out of the Fenway Park bullpen in the seventh inning of a tie game. The Seattle Mariners had one on and two out.

He walked Randy Winn. Then he walked Adrian Beltre. The third batter he faced, Richie Sexson, hit a fly ball to right field.

“When the ball left the bat, I took a few steps toward the dugout,” remembers Meredith, who threw the fateful pitch on May 8, 2005. “I thought I was out of the jam, but the ball just kept drifting and drifting, and pushing and pushing, and doink, it went right off the foul pole.”

Grand slam. The fact that it was a wind-blown fly ball that traveled little more than 320 feet was of scant consolation to the shell-shocked rookie.

“I wanted to dig a hole and climb in, man,” Meredith told me. “I felt overwhelmed. The weird part was, on any other day, with the weather different, and in any other ballpark, it’s a can of sh__ in Trot Nixon’s glove. If that ball is caught, it probably changes my career.” Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Archer’s attitude toward stats is a mix of new-school and old-school. The 26-year-old righty realizes pitcher Wins and ERA are influenced by things he can’t control. The number he cares most about, from a personal perspective, is innings pitched.

Archer threw 194-and-two-third innings for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014. He did so effectively, fashioning a 3.33 ERA and a nearly identical 3.39 FIP over 32 starts. Pitching in his second full season, his W-L record was 10-9.

He fell short of his goal, albeit just barely.

“The one goal I had this year was to pitch 200 innings,” Archer told me. “If you’re pitching into the seventh pretty much every time, that’s the number you reach. For me, elite starters pitch 200 innings because, A: They’re making every start, and B: They’re keeping their team in every game. The manager’s not going to leave you out there if you’re not throwing well.”

The hard-throwing right-hander wasn’t pulled early very often last year. He went at least six innings 23 times, and on just three occasions fewer than five. He surrendered four or more earned runs only eight times.

Archer pitched better than his 10-9 record. In 14 of his 32 starts, he got either a loss or a no-decision while allowing three or fewer earned runs. No teardrops were shed – at least not for selfish reasons. Read the rest of this entry »