Battle of the Youth

Allen Webster will get his second start tonight. Photo from the Boston Globe.
Allen Webster is set to make his second career start tonight, according to mlb.com. He'll match up against Jose Hernandez, and it should be an interesting matchup of two promising young talents. According to mlb.com, Webster hit an average velocity of 95 during his last start in April. He is currently taking the roster spot of Joel Hanrahan, who is on the DL. Felix Doubront was moved to the bullpen, but manager John Farrell insists the move is temporary. Webster managed 6 Ks in 6 innings against the Royals, and 26 strikeouts in 20 innings in Pawtucket, according to mlb.com. He shows some serious potential, and he could be key for us right now, with all our injury problems. If he can keep pitching like he has, that would be huge in helping us not only survive all of these injuries, but smack them down. Personally, I think he can do it, and I also think his potential can be limitless if he wants to go far. Focusing on tonight, he needs to have a solid game to help us get some momentum back in our corner and give the battered Sox some confidence. We'll need him to give us a good 6 or 7 inning to conserve our depleted bullpen, which is missing both our regular closers. We'll need to protect the pen as much as possible while the closers get back and that falls to the starters. Going forward, having Dubrount in the pen and Webster as a starter could work because we do need a long reliever for when the starter can't go deep could work. But I'm sure when the closers return, Doubrount will be back in the rotation. Just some food for thought, though. As always, tweet me @ConorJF1016 with any comments.