NEWSLETTER
MLB Notes — The latest from around Major League Baseball …
The Boston Red Sox have one of the best rotations in baseball through the first month-plus, but it’s interesting to see how they’re achieving their success this year.
Red Sox Starters Have Cut Back on the Heater, and It’s Having Tremendous Success
The Boston Red Sox lead Major League Baseball in team ERA six weeks into the season, thanks to the emergence of Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford. Houck and Crawford have two of the top 10 ERAs in baseball and have been as good as anyone at preventing home runs.
Houck is a dark-horse AL Cy Young candidate who enters play today with a 1.99 ERA and 2.06 FIP. Crawford may have an even better shot at getting Cy Young votes this year, checking in with a 1.75 ERA in eight starts for the Red Sox this season. Both pitchers have a strikeout rate below 26 percent, something not usually associated with those honored these days.
So, how are they keeping the baseball in the ballpark and runners from scoring?
They’re doing it by throwing fewer fastballs, a plan led by their new front office and former Red Sox pitcher Craig Breslow.
Boston throws fastballs 31.9 percent of the time as a team, the lowest rate in baseball. Interestingly enough, fastball usage is down across Major League Baseball. The league-wide rate is 47.2 percent this season. By contrast, it was 56.3 percent in 2015.
Opta Analyst’s Zach Crizer wrote an excellent story on the Red Sox’s new approach and baseball’s collective downturn of using the fastball.
Sometimes Trades Don’t Work Out
On Tuesday, On3 reported that former MLB player Monte Harrison has committed to Arkansas football. Harrison played briefly in the majors with the Marlins and Angels. Harrison was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2014 and was shipped to Miami as part of the Christian Yelich trade.
Yelich was traded to the Brewers in January 2018. At the time, it looked like a great deal for both sides. Milwaukee landed Yelich, and the Marlins received Lewis Brinson, Isan Díaz, Monte Harrison, and right-hander Jordan Yamamoto in exchange.
When the trade went down, Brinson was baseball’s No. 13 prospect (MLB Pipeline). Diaz was ranked 86th on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 at the time. Former Marlins President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill raved about the return in the Yelich trade in 2018.
“Christian Yelich is a talented player, as were all of the players we’ve moved this offseason,” Hill told MLB.com. “You want to get talent in return. You want to get impact, championship-caliber players, and that’s what Lewis Brinson is. That’s what Monte Harrison is. That’s what Isan Díaz is, and that’s what Jordan Yamomoto is.”
Fast-forward to today, and Harrison will be a 28-year-old playing college football at Arkansas. Lewis Brinson is playing baseball in the Mexican League, Isan Díaz is playing with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League, and Jordan Yamamoto is a high school baseball coach.
Yikes!
Jarren Duran is Running for the Record Books
Yesterday was one of those days when you re-appreciate how hard it is to hit a triple. Rangers infielder Marcus Semien was a triple shy of the cycle… in the second inning. He came to the plate three more times and couldn’t check off the most challenging box of the cycle. Which is why I found this interesting from Ken Rosenthal:
Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran recorded his sixth triple of the season last night, which leads baseball. But it doesn’t just lead baseball; it puts him on a historic pace of 27 triples for the season. The last player to hit more than 25 in a season was Kiki Cuyler, who had 26 for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925.
Since 1969, there have only been six seasons in which a player has logged more than 20 triples. The last two came in the same season when Jimmy Rollins (20) and Curtis Granderson (23) accomplished the feat. It’s unlikely that Duran will sniff the record of 36, set by Pittsburgh’s Owen Wilson in 1912, but he could become the modern-day single-season triples king if he remains on the current pace.
