Cora not concerned by Richards’ early struggles
Walks four in two innings against Braves Sunday
The good news is that Garrett Richards has been lost without command before and found a way to make it work.
The bad news is that it hasn’t looked good so far this spring.
The Red Sox’ $10 million man threw another wild outing against the Braves on Sunday afternoon. Once again, he looked uncomfortable and out of sync while falling behind in the count and watching the walks pile up (four in two innings).
After his three-inning outing was cut to two due to a high pitch count, Richards admitted he isn’t feeling right.
“I’ve been in mechanic mode for about five years now with all the injuries I’ve had,” he said. “I’m just trying to get back out there and get back into my rhythm and throwing the ball the way I know how to throw it. It’s taken a little time with all the injuries I’ve had and years of baseball I’ve missed.”
In his first two spring training outings since signing with the Red Sox, he’s walked six batters in four innings while striking out three and allowing six runs.
“Obviously, we don’t like the walks,” manager Alex Cora said. “But like I told him after the outing ‘are you healthy?’ And he said, ‘yup.’ And that’s what matters right now. Obviously we have to make adjustments but we’re getting to know the individual. Different delivery, a few things Bushy (pitching coach Dave Bush) has noticed in the two outings and bullpens, it’s just a matter of keep working hard.”
With a pair of Tommy John surgeries in the past five years, Richards has been limited to just 198 M innings since the start of the 2016 season. But quite remarkably, he’s been great when he’s been on the mound, even in limited appearances. He has a 3.53 ERA with a 1.25 WHIP and 205 strikeouts in that span.
If Richards can be that effective without making more than 16 starts in a season, there’s a lot of intrigue to how good he could be if he stayed healthy and got his mechanics into a steady rhythm.
“You can’t help the team if you’re not on the field,” he said. “I know that pretty well. So nobody wins a championship by getting hurt. Everybody has to stay healthy for the whole season.”
Richards said he’s trying to learn the language of Bush. During Bush’s career, he was almost a complete opposite of Richards; Bush didn’t throw very hard and relied on location, while Richards throws triple-digit fastballs with an elite spin rate, but sometimes doesn’t know where it’s going.
“We are trying to iron some things out,” Richards said. “We’re still learning each other. As far as terminology and things I like to hear, things I’ll say, as far as mechanics go, a couple things in between starts I try to do that will get me back on track — he’s trying to figure it out too. We’re learning a lot about each other. It’s early. It’s early in spring training. It is just spring training, so.”
It’s rare for players or coaches to get too worked up over spring training results. It’s also hard to ignore Richards’ doing an impersonation of “Wild Thing” Ricky Vaughn from “Major League.”
“Hopefully towards the end,” he said when asked when he might start getting comfortable. “That’s what spring training is for though.”
The Red Sox have been working out of a six-man rotation this spring to help pitchers ease into the regular season. The extra rest gives them additional time to work on mechanics, but it’s taking Richards a while to sort it out.
“I throw two bullpens in between starts typically, so I don’t like to go that long without touching the bump,” he said.
“As long as you develop a routine that you’re comfortable with that allows you to not disengage from the mound for too long before your start, I think it’s totally fine.
“Obviously guys aren’t going to get as many starts throughout the year and 32 or 33 starts isn’t going to be a full season of starts anymore (if teams use a sixman rotation). The game is changing. I’m just here along for the ride, man.”