It’s been a rough first week for the starting pitchers as Red Sox starters have an ERA of 6.66 in 25.2 innings pitched. That was supposed to end today with the second start for David Price coming on the home opener. In the end Price struggled in the 3rd inning and surrendered 5 earned runs in a total of 5 innings pitched.
FORT MYERS, FL – MARCH 15: David Price #24 of the Boston Red Sox pitches in the first inning of the Spring Training Game against the New York Yankees on March 15, 2016 at Jet Blue Park at Fenway South, Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)
So far this season Price has struggled in one inning of each start and given up a total of 7 earned runs in 11 innings. The good news is Price is striking out batters at a rate of 14.73 per nine innings. That rate is higher than any season in his career, so while it’s unlikely to stand he’s not having trouble getting batters to swing and miss.
His contact rate against is only 69.8 percent in these two games, which is much lower than his career average of 79.7 percent. The problem so far this season has been innings getting away from him with free passes. He has walked 4 batters this season and combined with a poor BABIP of .375 he is likely to turn this around soon.
His career BB/9 is only 2.32 and had been 1.30, 1.38 and 1.92 the past three seasons. This season he’s at 3.27 in his first two games with opponents swinging at only 42% of his pitches. That is the lowest rate of his career so far.
His ERA as of Tuesday is 5.73, but his xFIP is a stellar 2.38 meaning Price is pitching much better than his results so far and is the one thing in the rotation the Red Sox do not need to be concerned about.
Only one pitcher on the staring rotation has an ERA under 5.00 right now and that is Steven Wright. Things are not going as planned for sure, but at least the offense has made a solid push to hold the team together until things turn around.
It’s also worth noting that Price was clocked at only 90 MPH on his fastball against Cleveland, but that concern was lessened on Monday as Price was clocked at home with a 93.4 average velocity on his four seam fastball. That matches his career average and should make everyone feel a bit better about his ability to turn this season around quickly.
While we may here some hand wringing about Price before his next start from the local media his stuff has been good so far and I fully expect him to be worth that contract by the end of his first season in Boston. $30 million is a lot to live up to, but this is a pitcher who according to Fangraphs calculations has been worth grater than $30 million for 5 straight years.
Now the real question is what is the future for Craig Kimbrel who has always struggled with walks and has continued to do that this season as well.