Prior to coming to the Red Sox, Andrew Cashner had walked 29 batters in 96 innings. In 30.1 innings for the Red Sox, he has now walked 17. Including 11 in his last 3 outings.
This just highlights how much the Red Sox have a strike throwing problem. The whole organization is a nightmare right now. I posted a joke last week about maybe “walks are the new market inefficiency,” but this is ridiculous. It extends beyond the major leagues to pitching prospects throughout the system.
The staff as whole is currently 5th worst in Major League Baseball, though there are 8 or 9 teams very clustered around them, 8 of which suck, plus Atlanta. This is despite having the advantage of Sale’s and Price’s fantastic walk rates, which keeps the team stats from being even more of a horror show.
The bullpen is itself also fifth worst in BB, with added suck of having anywhere from 20 to 100 less innings pitched than the 4 teams “ahead” of them. (MLB unhelpfully doesn’t break out BB/9.)
You might say that a high K, high BB strategy is in place. Perhaps. They are 2nd in K/9. But they are only 9th overall and 10th for bullpen only in K/BB. So that’s no working if that’s the strategy.
Now turn to prospects:
Darwinzon Hernandez’s inability to know where the ball goes after it leaves his hand is well established. The other top two upper level relief prospects we’ve head about are Houck and Feltman. Both of whom are control disasters. Houck has walked 10 in 11 AAA innings. Feltman has walked 30 in 44 AA innings. Other prospects we’ve seen this year—Shawaryan, 41 walks in 71 innings. Pathetic. Lakins, 21 walks in 40 innings. Bad.
The worst part is that pitchers seem to get worse the more they’re exposed to the Red Sox system rather than better. Feltman was excellent last summer after being drafted. Walking only 5 in 25 innings. Somehow, he lost the ability to throw a strike after working with Red Sox coaches. Kutter Crawford moves from Salem to Portland, walk rate skyrockets to 14 in 17 innings. Granted the jump to AA is the biggest, but the plate is the same size, right?
This just highlights how much the Red Sox have a strike throwing problem. The whole organization is a nightmare right now. I posted a joke last week about maybe “walks are the new market inefficiency,” but this is ridiculous. It extends beyond the major leagues to pitching prospects throughout the system.
The staff as whole is currently 5th worst in Major League Baseball, though there are 8 or 9 teams very clustered around them, 8 of which suck, plus Atlanta. This is despite having the advantage of Sale’s and Price’s fantastic walk rates, which keeps the team stats from being even more of a horror show.
The bullpen is itself also fifth worst in BB, with added suck of having anywhere from 20 to 100 less innings pitched than the 4 teams “ahead” of them. (MLB unhelpfully doesn’t break out BB/9.)
You might say that a high K, high BB strategy is in place. Perhaps. They are 2nd in K/9. But they are only 9th overall and 10th for bullpen only in K/BB. So that’s no working if that’s the strategy.
Now turn to prospects:
Darwinzon Hernandez’s inability to know where the ball goes after it leaves his hand is well established. The other top two upper level relief prospects we’ve head about are Houck and Feltman. Both of whom are control disasters. Houck has walked 10 in 11 AAA innings. Feltman has walked 30 in 44 AA innings. Other prospects we’ve seen this year—Shawaryan, 41 walks in 71 innings. Pathetic. Lakins, 21 walks in 40 innings. Bad.
The worst part is that pitchers seem to get worse the more they’re exposed to the Red Sox system rather than better. Feltman was excellent last summer after being drafted. Walking only 5 in 25 innings. Somehow, he lost the ability to throw a strike after working with Red Sox coaches. Kutter Crawford moves from Salem to Portland, walk rate skyrockets to 14 in 17 innings. Granted the jump to AA is the biggest, but the plate is the same size, right?