Red Sox Have Simple Priority When It Comes To Pitching Staff

It might not be to the level that many were expecting, but the Boston Red Sox have done a fair amount of tinkering with their starting rotation this offseason.

The changes haven't just been of the on-field variety, either.

It's understandable that some might be peeved with the lack of an overhaul when it comes to personnel, but Boston did make a pretty substantial addition in new pitching coach Andrew Bailey -- who has a proven track record after four seasons with the San Francisco Giants.

The Red Sox still have plenty of questions left to answer when it comes to who will actually be on the mound, but Bailey's got a clear opinion of what can help Boston right the ship. In an appearance on the "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast Wednesday, the 39-year-old pinpointed "strike-throwing" as his top priority in looking to revamp Boston's staff.

"I think we all know what the count-leverage tree looks like in terms of expected (slugging percentage) and damage as the at-bat goes on," Bailey said, as transcribed by host Rob Bradford. "First pitch strikes are huge for me. Winning the first three pitches -- we have certain statistics that we track and monitor. I think putting some accountability, gamifying certain things. Being as open and honest and not hiding the ball from where guys are at and where they need to be. What is league average and if you're not league average where are we going wrong? I think a lot of those things are what we can look at.

"... I think about it as our run-prevention department. We are in the business of run suppression, so I think baseball is thriving right now. We want to suppress runs as much as possible. And there are other people out there who are trying to increase runs. As long as we can keep our players accountable to the process we believe can keep runs off the board as a run prevention unit, it should put our offense in a really good position to succeed. It should put our team in a good position to succeed. As long as we can hold true to those things, holding our players accountable and holding our coaches accountable and then finding the personnel that can execute it, we'll be in a good spot."

In looking at who is expected to compete for a spot in Boston's rotation in 2024, there's a clear dividing line in who already follows that ideology and who doesn't.

"First pitch strikes are huge for me."

Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey

Brayan Bello leads the way, having started off with a strike against 64.2% of the batters he faced. Kutter Crawford (62.8%) and Josh Winckowski (62.4%) came in behind him, but were the only others that finished above the league-average number of 61.4%. Nick Pivetta (61.2%), Tanner Houck (61.1%) and Lucas Giolito (59.7%) all came in below, which seemingly made sense for Giolito, who gave up eight home runs on the first pitch of an at-bat in 2023.

The Red Sox still have moves to make if they hope to find increased success in 2024, but there's clearly a belief they can find ways to get better with what they already have.

We'll have to wait and see whether that's true or not.