Red Sox Pitcher Developing Into A Frontline Starter
Much was made of the Boston Red Sox not adding enough during the offseason to help the club. The Red Sox are off to a 13-10 start, which would have the team near the top of the AL and NL West. What was once thought to be a weak point by fans and analysts alike became a strength. It seems that their most important acquisition of the offseason wasn’t even a player.
Pitching coach Andrew Bailey is getting the most out of the Red Sox rotation that’s off to a historic start. Among them is Kutter Crawford, a player who has acted as the Red Sox ace this season.
Kutter Crawford by the Numbers
Crawford, 28, was long considered a bulk innings eater or a back-end rotation arm. His big break came in 2023, when he worked 129.1 innings with a 4.04 ERA. However, with his stuff, most, including Andrew Bailey, thought there was something else there.
This season, the emerging Red Sox ace has gotten off to a hot start. He leads all of MLB at a 0.66 ERA. His FIP of 2.33 suggests a bit of luck, but that still puts him sixth in the league. Crawford is 11th in strikeouts with 30 tickets punched. While walks are a bit of an issue with a 10% walk rate, he’s left 89.3% of runners on base. Even when he gets into a jam, he trusts his arsenal to help him escape it.
Crawford is also limiting the hard hits with an average exit velocity of 85.8 against him, which is in the 87th percentile. That’s backed up by his hard-hit percentage being in the 85th percentile.
The only criticism and what will hold him back to becoming a full front-line starter is going deep into games. That changed a little with his most recent outing. Alex Cora had come to help him through to get through six innings,
nabbing him his second quality start of the season. It gave some trust to Crawford, as Cora felt he needed to help the team that’s been depleted by injuries and could use a boost.
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