Joel Trunfio
Contributing Writer
The most common opinion of the Red Sox this offseason was that they would only go as far as their starting pitching -- specifically, the top of their rotation. Well, lo and behold, the top of the rotation has been outstanding and the Sox have the best record in baseball.
Jon Lester and
Clay Buchholz have combined for a 1.97 ERA, 10 wins, and 80 strikeouts and 28 walks.
Doug Thorburn, one of the wicked smart guys over at Baseball Prospectus (they are the forefathers of sabermetrics, advanced stats, and the Moneyball era), wrote an
article a few days ago on noticeable mechanical changes that
John Farrell has made with Lester and Buchholz. Have you heard the term "inside baseball"? This is inside inside baseball.
Look at these two deliveries from Lester:
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| 2012 |
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| 2013 |
To a normal person, these deliveries might look identical, but to wicked smart people like Doug Thorburn, they are worlds apart. 2012 Lester looks sluggish compared to 2013 Lester as he's rotating his upper body before release. Look at 2012 Lester's head: it drags behind the rest of his body while 2013 Lester's head almost leads his body, producing much more momentum and ultimately resulting in better balance and command. The stats back up this change, as Lester is throwing less balls and getting more called strikes.
Now take a quick look at 2010 Lester, when Farrell was his pitching coach, and you'll notice that the head is where it should be and the momentum before release is much quicker. Lester 2013 is a lot more like Lester 2010, which is a very good sign for the rest of this season.
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| 2010 |
Buchholz has had problems with consistency throughout his career. Repeating his delivery has been a challenge for him and it is a big reason why he is prone to very bad stretches and very good stretches. Clay's last season with Farrell, 2010, was by far the best of his career. Fortunately, Farrell the Magnificent -- with no doubt
the help of Juan Nieves -- has helped Buchholz refine his delivery to where it was in 2010 when he had a 2.33 ERA. Can you spot the difference in 2012 compared to 2010 and 2013?
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| 2010 |
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| 2012 |
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| 2013 |
Besides the fact that Buchholz now pitches from the 1st base side of the rubber, he has ditched the significant drop in his delivery. Buchholz uses a drop-n-drive delivery (watch the right leg drop down, then drive to home plate). In 2012 Clay's drop was more pronounced, making it much more difficult to repeat his delivery. The drop also killed his balance, and caused him to fall towards first base while releasing the ball. In 2013 he is still falling towards 1st, but only after release; all his pre-release momentum is towards home plate.
Just as any financial advisor will warn you, past results are no guarantee of future performance. Buchholz and Lester
could fall back into bad habits and lose their effectiveness. But the fact that Farrell has been able to make such small, yet devastatingly effective tweaks in their deliveries so early on is a good sign that we will be enjoying two aces at the top of our rotation.
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