Will Middlebrooks Sees How Red Sox Pitchers Have Totally Flipped Script

Will Middlebrooks knows what big league hitters are looking for when they step into the batter’s box. They are looking for a fastball to hit.

But they aren’t getting that during the first week of the season from Boston Red Sox pitchers.

Red Sox starting pitchers have gone with a much different approach on the mound, relying more on their off-speed and secondary pitches than fastballs — they’re among the league leaders for fewest heaters thrown early in the season. The new plan of attack certainly has paid immediate dividends, though.

And Middlebrooks, who spent three seasons with the Red Sox and now serves as an analyst for NESN, sees why that has the Red Sox dominating opposing hitters.

“There is something to be said about not throwing as many fastballs,” Middlebrooks told NESN.com. “From a hitter’s perspective, from Little League on up, you are taught to build your approach at the plate, your plan at the plate around being on time on the fastball. Look for a fastball, middle, up, hammer it. That’s what you’re looking for. If you see spin, you take it.

“That’s just what’s engrained in our heads as hitters from our entire lives. So, finally, someone is saying, ‘Why are we going to throw them what they’re looking for?'”

One turn through the order, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck have been pretty much spotless. The rotation, armed with a new mindset, entered Tuesday leading MLB with a pristine 1.29 ERA while recording 37 strikeouts and just one walk in 28 innings pitched.

“If you look at the guys in the Red Sox rotation, you have a lot of guys that are really good at manipulating the baseball,” Middlebrooks said. “Sinking it, cutting it, we’re seeing big sweepers, we’re seeing multiple breaking balls.”

Under the direction of new pitching coach Andrew Bailey, the Red Sox have gone against the grain on the mound. This isn’t new for Bailey, though. In the same role with the Giants last season, he oversaw a San Francisco pitching staff that threw the fewest fastballs in the league.

Bailey has now brought that vision to the Red Sox.

“They’ve kind of gotten away from what the league had made normal the last few years of fastballs up, breaking balls down, splits down,” Middlebrooks said. “Now they’re going east and west when the rest of the league is still going north and south. So, teams are having to attack the Red Sox completely different than every other team. I think that’s going to work to their advantage.”

It will only be a matter of time until teams start adjusting. That will require the Red Sox to adjust, too.

And while no one can argue with the early results the Red Sox have turned in, Middlebrooks brought up a valid concern on if Boston can stick with this approach for the long haul.

“As an analyst, I’m going, ‘How do elbows hold up? Are they going to get hurt?'” Middlebrooks said. “So, it’s something we’re going to have to monitor through the season. But it’s working. There’s going to have to be a point where teams are going to adapt and start sitting on off-speed. And so, you’re going to see the cat-and-mouse back-forth.”