Boston Red Sox: Who Will Be The Ace Of The 2017 Pitching Staff?

After an unexpected dominant season from Rick Porcello, and a not-so excellent season from David Price, who will be the ace of the Boston Red Sox pitching staff in 2017?

As a baseball fan, a lot of things cross your mind during the long offseason. One thing that’s been circulating in my head is the big question about the Boston Red Sox pitching staff; Who will be our ace? During the 2015 offseason, you would’ve thought that this question would already be answered for the next seven years.

When left-handed pitcher David Price signed the big $217 million dollar contract last offseason, Boston was filled with joy and satisfaction. We didn’t have to worry about a top guy, because we just got one of the best pitchers in the league. Well, that’s not exactly how things went in 2016.

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In the first half of the season, Price went 9-6 in 19 starts with a 4.34 ERA. When you’re paying a guy $30 million a year, you certainly don’t want an ERA of that caliber. The second half of the season was much better, yet fans still did not agree that this guy was worth the money. He went 8-3 with an ERA just under 4.

Now for some teams these numbers would be enough to easily consider Price as an ace. But there was another guy on this Boston Red Sox staff who made sure that wasn’t the case. His name is Rick Porcello.

Boston Red Sox Pitcher Rick Porcello Better Than The Rest

Rick Porcello had such an unreal season that he is currently the front-runner for the American League Cy Young Award. Below is ESPN’s Cy Young Award predictor that shows Porcello as the top-dog.

2016 Cy Young Predictor – AL
RK	PLAYER	TEAM	CYP	G	GS	IP	ER	K	SV	SHO	W-L	ERA	VB
1	Rick Porcello	BOS	197.6	33	33	223.0	78	189	0	0	22-4	3.15	12
2	Corey Kluber	CLE	167.4	32	32	215.0	75	227	0	2	18-9	3.14	12
3	Zach Britton	BAL	166.9	69	0	67.0	4	74	47	0	2-1	0.54	0
4	J.A. Happ	TOR	164.9	32	32	195.0	69	163	0	0	20-4	3.18	0
5	Justin Verlander	DET	148.7	34	34	227.2	77	254	0	0	16-9	3.04	0
6	Cole Hamels	TEX	146.2	32	32	200.2	74	200	0	0	15-5	3.32	12
7	Sam Dyson	TEX	145.7	73	0	70.1	19	55	38	0	3-2	2.43	12
8	Chris Sale	CHW	144.3	32	32	226.2	84	233	0	1	17-10	3.34	0
9	Aaron Sanchez	TOR	142.1	30	30	192.0	64	161	0	0	15-2	3.00	0
10	David Price	BOS	140.8	35	35	230.0	102	228	0	0	17-9	3.99	12

Porcello had a record of 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA. He was also 13-1 at home with a 2.97 ERA. These numbers are most definitely enough for Porcello to claim that “ace” title.

But besides Porcello’s numbers, he was also a leader. We saw this multiple times this season, where Porcello made sure people knew that he was all business when he took the mound. One instance was on August 9th against the New York Yankees. Yankees’ Chase Headley was thrown out at third base, took his time getting up, and had a little altercation with Rick Porcello.

Things like this are what you love to see out of a pitcher. It shows his true competitiveness, passion, and desire to win. Also the fact that it was against the Yankees made it that much better, since the rivalry had been dead for a while before this occurrence.

The rest of Boston’s pitching staff in 2016 included Clay Buchholz, Drew Pomeranz, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Steven Wright. The only guy who came close to showing ace-like characteristics was Steven Wright, who has been injured since August.

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Although David Price can very well have a dominant comeback season like Rick Porcello in 2017, nothing is certain. Therefore, the ace of the 2017 Boston Red Sox pitching staff should be the possible 2016 AL Cy Young Award winner, Rick Porcello.

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