Pawtucket left-hander Felix Doubront is the answer to a trivia question: Who’s the first Latin American player signed during Theo Epstein’s tenure as Boston’s general manager to reach the major leagues?
Doubront made an emergency start last June 16 against the Dodgers and became only the fifth left-hander in team history to win his major league debut. The first was Babe Ruth.
But there’s nothing trivial about Doubront when it comes to the high esteem in which he’s held by the organization.
That was underscored by the fact this 23-year-old Venezuelan was named Boston’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2010 after going a combined 8-3 with a 2.81 ERA replete with 73 hits allowed and 72 strikeouts in 80 innings between Portland and Pawtucket.
In addition, he began 2011 rated Boston’s No. 5 prospect by Baseball America. But Doubront’s career could have been sidetracked considering he’s been beset by a series of injuries since 2006 and has been flipped between the bullpen and the starting rotation by Boston.
He was converted to a reliever last season when a combination of injuries and ineffective pitching nearly wrecked Boston’s bullpen.
“For me, I feel real confident in myself as a starter but also as a reliever,” said Doubront who was placed on Pawtucket’s disabled list May 11 with a strained left groin muscle (file that under the heading of bad timing considering Boston shortly thereafter placed John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka on its disabled list which would have opened a slot for Doubront in the team’s starting rotation; Doubront was activated on June 1 and was scheduled to start a June 4 game at Durham). “My whole minor league career, I was a starter. When I signed with the Red Sox (in 2004 for a mere $150,000) they wanted me as a starter. But if they need me in the bullpen, it’s different but my focus is the same.
“When you come out of the bullpen you have to throw strikes and focus on the hitter. My preference is to be a starter. But if they need me in the bullpen, I’ll do the same thing I would as a starter. I’m young. My arm is good. I can handle both roles to help the team win a championship.”
Doubront last season was 1-2 with a 4.11 ERA in three starts with Boston and 1-0 with a 4.66 ERA with two saves in nine relief appearances.
“He understood this situation that first came up last year when they moved him into the bullpen,” said PawSox pitching coach Rich Sauveur. “You can take two roads. You can take one road and say ‘I understand this. They need me and they’re looking at me to help the big league club.’ Or, you can say, ‘This is baloney. I want to pitch.’
“That’s the immature way and, obviously, they don’t understand what’s going on here. Maturity is the big thing for Felix. He’s matured a lot. He understands that he’s on that I-95 path right now of back and forth. When they need him, he’s going to go. It’s just a matter of time. But, to me, maturity is the main thing. It’s a big key with anybody.”
Doubront incurred elbow tendinitis during spring training and was shut down on February 24.
“I came early to Fort Myers and worked hard to make my arm strong,” said Doubront. “I started throwing and in my first ‘BP’ session, I didn’t feel right. I told the trainers I felt soreness.
“The good thing is I stopped early in the spring. I feel I did the right thing (by reporting early). But if I didn’t stop pitching it could have been worse.”
Doubront went north with Boston but, due in large part to his lack of work, was ineffective in three relief appearances (witness his 6.73 ERA).
He was optioned to Pawtucket on April 18 and commenced the long, often tedious path back to full strength which would enable him to occupy a spot in the team’s starting rotation.
Doubront started against Gwinnett on May 9 and worked 4 1/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits replete with only one walk and seven strikeouts. He threw 51 of 78 pitches for strikes and gave the impression he was close to becoming a full-fledged starter.
“It would have been nice to have thrown him out there and let him finish the fifth (so he could have qualified for the win as Pawtucket prevailed, 9-2),” said manager Arnie Beyeler. “But down the road, nobody will care about the first couple of months here. It’s all about getting him in shape and building him up.
“Sometimes being a strikeout pitcher like he is can be detrimental because he throws too many pitches striking out guys. But that’s part of it. We’re going to build him up to five or six innings and get him up to around 100 pitches and have him ready to roll.”
Unfortunately for Doubront, he rolled onto the D.L. after straining that groin muscle during a May 11 side session. Otherwise, he might have been in line for a promotion given the injuries to Lackey and Matsuzaka.
“My last outing I felt like my delivery was downhill and my changeup was pretty good,” said Doubront. “I had the feeling that my curveball was coming back and that I was able to throw it for strikes … even backdoor it.
“I felt like I almost had everything back.”
Having a “feel” for his curveball is something Doubront, admittedly, couldn’t say in the past but can now because he worked in the offseason with Boston’s minor league pitching coordinator Ralph Treuel.
“To be honest, I didn’t have a curveball in Class A,” said Doubront. “Now, sometimes I feel it’s my out pitch. I feel confident to throw it 2-0 or 3-0. You just want to let it go.”
In Sauveur’s opinion, Doubront understands why he’s being stretched out gradually instead of being thrown into the fire before he’s 100 percent.
“If a guy doesn’t get the point of why he’s the one who’s being babied or why am I the one who’s being cut back, it’s not going to happen,” said Sauveur. “You’re very important to this organization. If you can help the organization win, that’s the most important thing.
“(Doubront) has done a great job. I think once players understand that they’re the ones that are wanted by the major league club, it enables them to understand the situation a little bit better.”