Open Season: Red Sox Pitching Struggling

With the Boston Red Sox bats on point, the pitching staff has not been up to par this season, and we could see drastic changes if it does not get better.

The 2016 Boston Red Sox  season thus far begins and ends with their electrifying offense. Players such as David Ortiz, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts, along with the rest of the starting nine have contributed for a Major League leading .293 batting average as a unit. Not much can be said for this pitching staff top to bottom; if so, we could be talking about one of the best teams this league has seen in quite some time.

The Red Sox starting rotation has been a disaster to this point, their ace of the staff David Price who received a 7 Yr/$217 million deal in the offseason has looked very shaky in this first third of the season. From time to time we have seen Price have a “quality” start, but other times we have seen him alternate the height of his leg kick, struggle with a consistent release point, and the results of these poor mechanics has really taken toll to his performance (4.88 ERA).

This ball club has already had two starters in the rotation who were starters all last year lose their spots already in this early season. RHP Clay Buchholz was sent to the bullpen after his inconsistent starts. Buchholz main problem was leaving pitches to far up in the zone, and hitters made him pay the price, he has let up a team-high 12 home runs in just 10 starts. Boston faithful who have always been on his side from the time Buchholz got here, have quickly got on the bandwagon to ship him out of Boston as he has been nothing but a disappointment thus far this season, with inconsistent starts and a heavy ERA (6.35) to say the least.

The other starter to quickly lose his spot in the rotation is RHP Joe Kelly. Kelly was removed from April 19’s start against the Tampa Bay Rays because of a shoulder injury. He was then placed on the disabled list; however Kelly returned May 21st against the Cleveland Indians. That day he threw an absolute gem going 6.2 IP only allowing 1 hit and striking out 7. After that, it all went down hill for Kelly as he let up a combined 12 ER in his next two starts. Manager John Farrell had a quick leash on Kelly and demoted him to AAA Pawtucket after getting shelled by the Baltimore Orioles June 1st. Kelly who has great upside because of a powerful fastball, will have to work on his pitch location in the minors in order to get his spot back come the last 4 months of the season.

LHP Eduardo Rodriguez made his return the club May 31st after a knee injury, in what was a good performance going 6 IP and only allowing 2 ER in a win over the Baltimore Orioles. It was quite the different story Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays in his second start as he let up 4 home runs in 5.1 IP in a 5-4 defeat. We have quickly noticed that it is early, but Rodriguez has not brought the same velocity on his fastball like he did so in 2015. In his first two starts his fastball velocity was around 89-92, in 2015 it was in the mid-90s range, and for that leaving fastballs up would consist of balls being hit over the monster like in Sunday afternoons contest. The stat of his career so far in Boston has been Rodriguez’s split between day/night games, check it out.

Bullpen

Time and time again we have seen this Red Sox offense rack up the stat sheets and carry a lead into the late innings, and then a struggling bullpen like the Sox possess have gone in and weren’t able to finish it out. Fortunately we have seen positives from this bullpen, but not enough to say that they aren’t vulnerable.

Seems like every time we have turned to RHP’s Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa they don’t have the same stuff that they have had in past seasons to make them successful. Uehara seems way to predictable throwing splitters every pitch, he doesn’t possess what he had in 2013 to make him one of the best closers in the league at that time.

Every time we see RHP Craig Kimbrel come in, he continues to throw smoke. But if you bring him into a tough situation then he very likely could walk the park as he seems to be a “hit-or-miss” type of pitcher. Kimbrel has been dominant at points of this season by blowing hitters away with that 98-99 MPH fastball, but if you look at how many times they have brought him in to come in with damage on base we have seen a different side to him.

LHP Tommy Layne and RHP Noe Ramirez have had tough bullpen troubles this season. Layne leads the team in Opponents Batting Average (2.69/min.14 IP), and has had his share of troubled innings (4.40 ERA)  in 2016 thus far.

Ramirez on the other hand has bounced up and down from AAA to the big leagues, and has not made his presence known in the bullpen yet (6.55 ERA). Also, Ramirez in only 11 innings pitched has allowed hitters to hit an astonishing .341 BA. Pitchers like these two know that their time could be cut short if they continue to pitch this bad, and need to focus on what got them here and how they can transfer that success into being big time MLB relievers.

On the bright side of things, RHP Heath Hembree who has been up and down from the minors has had great numbers here in Boston thus far. The right hander has a 1.93 ERA in 23.1 IP, and has continued to impress the coaching staff with his proficient performances. Someone like Hembree is exactly what the Red Sox need, someone to come out of the bullpen and help this team get a win in the closing innings.

I know we haven’t seen the best out of this pitching staff as a whole, because if so then that tells us that their will certainly be no playoff baseball in Boston this year, and in David Ortiz’s last season that’s not possible, right? Overall, I believe this starting pitching needs to go longer into games where it sets up this struggling bullpen to throw less innings to ultimately give anyone on this staff much-needed rest when they can.

It is going to be interesting to see what kind of production we see from this staff, as more than half of these pitchers are on a short leash as the trading deadline is approaching. The front office might need to make a big move in order for this ball club to have a chance toward October baseball.

Keep it locked here at Chowder and Champions for continued coverage on the Boston Red Sox.

Next: Red Sox Set the Model for Concussion Treatment

P.S- RHP Steven Wright, keep doing your thing as the ace of this pitching staff (6-4 2.29 ERA). Don’t worry about Hanigan dropping that knuckleball, it is too filthy for any hitter in this league to hit any way, cheers man.