When Tanner Houck took the ball in the sixth inning of the Red Sox’ 4-0 win over the Twins on Saturday, he accomplished something only one other Sox starter, Nick Pivetta, has done so far this year.
Starters don’t often make it into the sixth inning in the modern game. It’s happening in just 27% of big league starts this year. The Red Sox are right around average in that regard.
But as many wonder if the Sox are turning into the Rays in the way they prioritize maximum effort in shorter outings, pitching coach Dave Bush said on Sunday that the Sox are getting ready to unleash their starters for deeper workloads in a more traditional definition of the role.
“We’re close,” Bush said. “We got them all up to six innings or into the sixth inning in spring training knowing we’d probably back off by one at the start of the year. They’ve all held strong pretty good so far.
“Tanner getting into the sixth yesterday; efficiency is a big part of it. If they’re efficient they don’t have to work as hard and then we can extend them out.”
Houck needed 89 pitches to make it through 5 2/3 innings, tying Pivetta for the Sox’ longest start of the year. Only three times in eight games has a Sox starter reached the 80-pitch threshold.
“We’re trying to do it incrementally,” Bush said. “We’re pretty close. We’re pretty close to taking the wheels off and just letting them go.”
Across the league, there have been just 18 instances of a starter recording an out in the seventh inning, and just two instances of a starter recording an out in the eighth (Justin Verlander and Logan Webb).
It might just be the natural evolution of the game, but it was causing concern among some during the 2021 postseason, when quick hooks and short starts were becoming the norm and many wondered if too many pitching changes was detrimental to the viewing experience for casual baseball fans. To combat the trend, MLB is currently using the Atlantic League to experiment with a rule that would cause teams to lose their designated hitter if a starter doesn’t last at least five innings.
Having a three-week, abbreviated spring training didn’t help the cause, but the Sox remain committed to getting more innings out of their starters.
“I still think it’s best for everybody if starters pitch a little deeper into the game just because that’s where their comfort level is,” Bush said. “It still means they’re pitching well. The longer they stay in the game it’s because they’re throwing the ball well.”
Teams can survive with short starts in April, when MLB is allowing them to carry 28 players on the roster. But on May that will decrease to the regular cap of 26 players.
“We’ll have a shorter bullpen so starters will need to pick it up a little bit more than they are right now,” Bush said.
Nathan Eovaldi is the only Sox starter to get over 100 pitches thus far.
The Sox had the quickest hook with Houck last year, when they held him to around 75 pitches per start. But his outing on Saturday showed how effective he can be when he’s attacking the strike zone.
“Made some adjustments that I’m super happy with, pounding the zone a lot more, obviously continuing to grow and take steps in the right direction,” Houck said.
With a slider that’s been compared to Chris Sale’s, but from the right side, Houck has the weapons to be an elite starter on this staff. Throwing more strikes and lasting deeper into games is the final piece of the puzzle.
“Action is great, stuff is always good,” Bush said. “Throughout his career it’s always been an issue of strike-throwing.. That’s always his goal, just clean up his delivery enough to throw consistent strikes.”
Houck said Bush had to remind him between innings to be more aggressive.
“I think it’s his delivery,” Bush said. “Tanner is tough because it’s a big body, very flexible. He has a lot of moving pieces. That’s part of the reason he’s so deceptive and hard to hit. But it’s also hard to control that.
“Some guys are really short and simple. He’s not. That’s what makes him good. It’s the good and the bad. Here’s what makes him a really good pitcher with good stuff and a deceptive delivery, but it’s also difficult to repeat that.”
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April 18, 2022 at 12:23AM
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Red Sox committed to traditional starting pitcher roles: ‘We’re pretty close to taking the wheels off’ - Boston Herald
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