Mata out for season after Tommy John
Pitching prospect felt elbow soreness early in spring
Expecting to rely on their young starting pitching for important depth over an unprecedented season, the Red Sox suffered a big blow on Tuesday.
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
Right-hander Bryan Mata, the organization's top pitching prospect, underwent Tommy John surgery and will be out for the year.
Mata ran into trouble this spring when he felt soreness in his elbow. An MRI in early March revealed a slight tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. It wasn’t until Tuesday that Mata had surgery, which requires somewhere between 12 and 18 months for a full recovery.
The 21-year-old was originally signed for $25,000 out of Venezuela in 2016, but quickly became one of the team’s top prospects while showcasing a high-90s fastball that led to terrific results in the minor leagues. Between High-A and Double-A in 2019, he had a 3.43 ERA with 111 strikeouts in 105 innings.
The Sox will undoubtedly lean harder on prospect Tanner Houck and others in the high minors without Mata available this season.
‘Forgot that they’re good players’
Trying to figure out what went wrong for the Red Sox over a portion of 84 games between the end of 2019, 2020 and the first weekend of 2021 didn’t require a lot of investigation.
For manager Alex Cora , it was simple: the players lost their mojo.
The Sox’ finished the ‘19 season under Cora by going 8-13, went just 24-36 under Ron Roenicke in ‘20 and started this year 0-3, marking a 32-52 stretch that the Sox have tried to forget.
“Sometimes, some of these guys, they forget that (they’re good),” Cora said. “They’re so humble, they’re such good kids, that they forget that they’re good players. Xander Bogaerts is one of the best shortstops in the league and I think sometimes he forgets that part. Our third baseman (Rafael Devers ) is one of the best young players in the big leagues. He forgets that.
“These guys, we let them know in spring training how good they are and on a daily basis, you can see they’re in awe with their talent. Everybody is contributing.”
Bringing in Kiké Hernandez, Marwin Gonzalez and Hunter Renfroe, three guys with World Series experience, helped the Sox remember that, Cora said.
“They’ve helped this group to understand that they’re really good,” he said. “J.D. (Martinez) is talking baseball again, he’s talking hitting. Those meetings are back to where they were in ‘18 before the games. He’s back to that. I don’t know how it went last year but it’s very close to the message and how to attack guys. That voice is back. I’m very happy.”
Extra help
With the Sox playing a doubleheader, they added 25year-old right-hander Eduard Bazardo, a prospect who had yet to make a big league appearance, as the 27th player on the active roster for the day.
Bazardo had ridiculous numbers between High-A and Double-A in 2019, posting a 2.21 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 73-L innings. It was his first year as a full-time reliever after being a starter previously.
“He’s going to help us,” Cora said. “I don’t know if we’re going to use him today but he’s here. Throughout the season, this guy, he’ll help us. Good fastball. The best breaking ball. Everybody talks about it in the organization, right? A strike thrower. A strike-throwing machine. He’s not afraid. He attacks the strike zone with good stuff. He impressed a lot of people last year. He impressed me in spring training.”
Bazardo pitched the seventh inning of the Sox’ 7-1 win in Game 2. He walked two and struck out one.
Testing some rule changes
MLB will once again experiment with rule changes in partnership with the Atlantic League in 2021.
The two new rules are quite drastic.
Rather than going to universal designated hitter, they’re trying out something called a “double-hook” designated hitter. The DH will be in place for the starting pitcher only. Once the starter is removed, the team loses the DH the rest of the game.
And the pitching rubber is being moved back 12 inches to 61 feet, 6 inches, in an attempt to produce more contact.
MLB estimates that the average MLB fastball of 93.3 mph will look like 91.6 mph with the mound in the new position. This rule won’t take place until the second half of the season.
Jackie Robinson Day celebrations
More than 100 MLB players, including David Price and Jackie Bradley Jr., will be donating their full or partial salary to The Players Alliance on Jackie Robinson Day, which will be celebrated on April 15 and 16. The funds will be reinvested in Black communities and “amplify the organization’s mentorship, scholarship and access programs geared toward leveling the playing field, and providing the tools needed to help make many Black kids’ baseball dreams a reality,” according to the players.