If the Red Sox pitching staff suffered from one particular affliction last year, it was an inability to miss bats. The organization has already taken two major steps towards addressing that deficiency this winter, and pitching coach Andrew Bailey couldn't be happier.
Speaking to Sean McAdam of the Fenway Rundown podcast at MassLive, Bailey detailed his excitement over the additions of flame-throwing left-handers Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman. The Red Sox are coming off a season in which they ranked in baseball's bottom third in strikeout rate.
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"The ability to generate swing and miss is the best outcome for a pitcher," Bailey said. "There's no ball in play, there's nothing bad that can happen. ... For us to be able to come in and strike guys out not only helps starters get out of jams when needed, or to be able to put out fires late in games, is going to be great. You want to collect as many arms as you can who have that elite stuff and that's what we're doing."
Crochet and Chapman certainly check that box. The former struck out nearly 13 batters per nine innings last year, ranking fourth overall with 209 Ks. The latter has been defined by power since debuting with the Reds in 2010, and his 40 percent lifetime strikeout rate is the highest in history. Only three pitchers have ever struck out more than half the batters they faced in a season, and Chapman is one of them.
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Crochet's impact should be felt more acutely. The Red Sox acquired the 25-year-old to be their ace, and more than two years removed from Tommy John surgery, he should be operating without restriction.
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"We're going to treat him just like we do the rest of our starters," Bailey told MassLive. "We want them to be the best versions of themselves every single time they take the mound, whether that's on their fifth day, sixth day... whatever that looks like.
"Communication is huge. If we need to skip starts or if we need to push a guy back, we really want to meet them where they're at. From an innings limit standpoint, as long as he's healthy and there's no signs of fatigue and he's bouncing back OK, he's going to be in the bucket with everybody else.
"So there's no reason, in my mind, he can't go out and make all his starts, throw however many innings he can total up and bounce back. We know there's some undulations throughout the course of the season with fatigue and ability to recover. . . . We'll have those conversations. But yeah, going in, I would expect a fully healthy workload for the season."
As for Chapman, the soon-to-be 37-year-old could set up or close. He recorded 14 saves for the Pirates last year and is only three years removed from saving 30 games with the Yankees and making his seventh All-Star team.
"He's going to have an impact," Bailey told McAdam. "This guy's done it for a really long time, and has thrown in the biggest of games and has done really well. So we're excited to have him down there."
