With the Red Sox sitting at 4-9 on the season, it seems like nothing is going right for them. They've had trouble scoring with runners in scoring position, sitting in the bottom 10 in that category with a .221 batting average. It also doesn't help that their starters are not going deeper into games.
Connelly Early is the headliner here.
In all three of his appearances this season so far, Early has lived up to his last night, which isn't great for Boston, as the pitcher has only gone as far as 5 1/3 innings pitched, which was in his season debut against the Cincinnati Reds. In his second start, he was facing the cold bats of the San Diego Padres, who had recorded a team batting average of only .213 as of Friday night after their win against the Colorado Rockies. Early only went through just four full innings and threw 88 pitches.
Now, just in his start Friday night in the series opener against the surprisingly 8-5 St. Louis Cardinals, he pitched only 4 1/3 innings and threw 86 pitches. While his strikeout numbers have been strong for the amount of innings he's been pitching every game, he's given up 13 hits in his three respective outings. The good thing about this is that he's only allowed four earned runs in 13.2 innings, with an ERA of 2.65.
Red Sox's Early Still Working His Way Through Same Issues as 2025
This has been a problem with Early since his major league debut back on Sept. 9 of last year, but it was masked by his staggering amounts of strikeouts, where he struck out 11 batters in his debut and seven batters twice in the other games.
While this can be an issue across all young pitchers, Early may have to fix that issue soon. It taxes a lot out of the bullpen, especially from a third starter in the rotation. Having two pitchers who are already struggling like Ranger Suarez and Brayan Bello, and then adding Early into the mix, spells disaster for their relief arms.
In fact, there are so many pitchers behind him who are willing to take his place the moment he slips up. Sounds knee-jerk, but that's the roster construction that CBO Craig Breslow has set for the Red Sox, and it's showing in real time.
Behind him are the likes of Jake Bennett, Payton Tolle, and Johan Oviedo (when he comes back from injury), among others, who are in the lower levels of the Red Sox organization. All of them are willing to take his place when the time is opportune.
The Red Sox have so many options for pitchers right now, and if Early doesn't improve on that margin come July, they may have to reconsider his spot in the rotation and where he'll be put on the roster...
Or maybe they're already thinking about it...