Boston Red Sox pitchers are pitching very poorly. Red Sox pitchers loved Sandy Leon. Leon no longer is with the Red Sox. Therefore, Leon’s absence is the reason the Red Sox are pitching very poorly, right?
Not so fast.
The Red Sox’s pitching struggles, particularly as it pertains to their starters, is reaching historically bad proportions after Monday night’s 7-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Folks are getting understandably restless, especially given the sky-high expectations entering the season. Folks also want someone to blame, and it’s easier to blame the struggles on what’s not there anymore rather than looking at the actual problem, which is why Leon’s name keeps popping up.
It’s easy to see why folks might be clamoring for the veteran backstop’s return. Red Sox pitchers were very good when throwing to the 30-year-old last season.
But this story isn’t completely about Leon, who, we’ll remind you, had a 33 OPS+ last season that ranked dead last among 37 big league catchers with at least 250 plate appearances.
We’re here to point out that the struggles are more about what the starters have done — or haven’t done — regardless of who’s behind the plate this season. The simple (and obvious) truth is that the Red Sox just have to pitch better. Or more specifically, they just have to stop throwing so many laughably lousy pitches.
Take Monday night’s game for example. David Price actually was pretty good. He struck out nine batters in just six innings of work and only allowed five hits — but he made three very costly mistakes.
The first came in the second inning against Khris Davis, who ambushed a 1-0 changeup that Price left on a tee.
It’s a bad pitch. Very bad. But that’s because of the location, not the pitch type. Davis had just a .148 batting average on balls in play against lefty changeups last season, and the changeup is particularly effective for Price vs. righties — except for when he puts it right where Davis wants it.
Roman Laureano isn’t a household name, but he gets paid money to play baseball at the highest level, so it should come as no surprise that he walloped this 91 mph fastball from Price — the pitcher’s second costly mistake — for a home run in the third inning.
Finally, in the sixth inning, Price looked ready to make it out of the frame without too much damage. After getting to a 2-2 count, Price walked Mark Canha (he walked just 15 batters last season after reaching a 2-2 count). He then made one final, big mistake, leaving another juicy changeup out over the plate that Chad Pinder pounded for a home run.
You can question the pitch selection if you really want, but Christian Vazquez wasn’t asking for those waist-high, middle-middle offerings — as evidenced by Price’s reaction to the three mistakes.
It’s not just Price, either. The propensity to leave pitches out over the middle of the plate seems almost contagious among the Red Sox pitchers right now. Like this two-run single from Dee Gordon against Rick Porcello, for instance.
Or this home run hit by Domingo Santana off Nathan Eovaldi on Friday night.
You should get the picture by now.
The total lack of timely command also has reared its head in other ways. Red Sox pitchers, especially the starters, have failed to nail down opposing hitters when ahead in the count. Sox manager Alex Cora in a Sunday interview bemoaned the inability to finish two-strike at-bats for Boston pitchers.
The numbers back it up, too. Red Sox starters have allowed a 5.02 FIP in two-strike situations and have allowed four of their 11 home runs in two-strike counts. That’s obviously not going to get it done.
The good news, however, is it’s probably not going to last very long, especially with the talent Boston has in its rotation. Pedro Martinez was right when he said it’s too early to panic or worry, but it’s OK to be a little annoyed with how the Red Sox have pitched so far this season.
It’s also worth knowing where those annoyances should begin and end.
