The news has not always been great lately regarding Drew Pomeranz.
The Boston Red Sox left-hander has been on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis in his pitching arm since June 5 after a fairly poor start to his season.
Pomeranz now is rehabbing with Triple-A Pawtucket, and in his most recent outing Friday he got tagged for three runs on four hits over 3 2/3 innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
There were two noticeable problems when Pomeranz was up at the top level this season: the velocity on his fastball was way down, and his otherwise devastating curveball was ineffective. And before Saturday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sox manager Alex Cora indicated that both remain issues.
“Velocity is not up. It’s been 89-90, I think,” Cora said, via MassLive. “Inconsistent with the breaking stuff.”
Pomeranz will get another outing Wednesday with the PawSox, and he’ll look to improve upon otherwise abysmal performances as he works his way back. He’s allowed nine runs on 13 hits over 9 1/3 innings in his three outings will Triple-A.
That said, Cora continues to harp on the fact that a lot of Pomeranz’s struggles appear to come down to mechanics. As such, he is not overly concerned about his struggles at the moment.
“I’m not concerned but sometimes we talk about over-making adjustments,” Cora said. “Sometimes maybe that’s what’s going on. I haven’t talked to him today. I don’t know how he felt about his delivery. I just read the report. But like I said, it’s very important for him to find it. Important for us, obviously.
“I think with Drew it’s all about timing and mechanics, honestly,” Cora added. “That’s why he’s going to go out there and pitch on Wednesday. And he knows it. He knows he needs to get it right before he gets here. It’s very important. We saw what he did last year with this team. We need the good Drew Pomeranz, the guy that can repeat his delivery and he can be consistent with his breaking ball.”
The 29-year-old is 1-3 with a 6.81 ERA with the Red Sox this season after going 17-6 with a 3.32 ERA last year.
