Pitchers seeing early results under Bailey
Slaten making strong impression
FORT MYERS, FLA. >> This offseason the Red Sox made overhauling their pitching program the club’s top priority, and since taking over as pitching coach Andrew Bailey has worked with every pitcher on the roster to try and find ways to unlock their full potential.
It’s still early in camp, but there are already encouraging signs that work is paying off.
Through the first week of games the Red Sox pitching staff has been strong across the board, with only a small handful of duds interspersed among what have otherwise been stellar performances. The club’s starters have broadly looked great as well, and several arms have shown notable improvement in terms of velocity, command or their approach in general.
“The guys are doing really well, we have individual goals for each and every pitcher and the guys are hitting on them so far,” Bailey said Thursday morning. “We’ve got to keep the gas pedal down and keep giving them quality feedback and holding them accountable and setting high standards and we’ll continue to do that and watch these guys progress through camp.”
Rejuvenated Giolito
Lucas Giolito was the club’s biggest offseason acquisition, but the former Chicago White Sox standout is not coming to Boston riding a wave of momentum. Last summer, Giolito endured the second half from hell, posting a 7.13 ERA amid a chaotic stretch in which he changed teams twice and dealt with significant turmoil in his personal life.
Now in a much better place, Giolito delivered a gem in his first outing last week and showed off a significant uptick in his fastball velocity. Following the outing Giolito lavished praise on Bailey and the pitching program.
“I think it’s been extraordinary so far,” Giolito said. “We get all the information we need, any questions we have we go in there and we can break down video or mechanics or whatever, and then also keep it simple. There are always drills available to us to continue to hone things in, so I’m very excited to be here and be working with him.”
Friday’s second outing didn’t go nearly as well — he allowed a leadoff home run and couldn’t get out of the third after loading the bases with one out — but his velocity uptick was still apparent.
Even amid his struggles last season Giolito still made 33 starts and threw 184.1 innings, and this year the Red Sox are counting on him to be a workhorse. Bailey said Giolito has done everything they could have asked for and that so far everyone has been on the same page.
Slaten shining
Despite having only ever pitched five games above Double-A, Justin Slaten was viewed by the Red Sox as by far the best talent available in the Rule 5 Draft and the club immediately swung a trade for him after he was taken by the New York Mets.
Slaten must make the Opening Day roster and spend the entire year in the majors, otherwise he’ll be offered back to his original team, the Texas Rangers. But so far Slaten has been everything the Red Sox hoped he’d be and has looked right at home on a big league mound.
“Yes, absolutely. He looks the part, he’s throwing like the part, going about his business the right way,” Bailey said. “He’s come to work this spring to earn a shot at making the team and it’s so funny, experience doesn’t really matter, you’ve got to start somewhere, and guys that are filling up the zone, generating swings and misses are the guys we’re going to take and so far he’s done that.”
Through his first three outings, Slaten has thrown three scoreless innings with no walks, and he’s dominated every lineup he faced. His fastball has consistently touched 96 mph, and on Tuesday against St. Louis he threw 11 of his 14 pitches for strikes, including a combined seven whiffs and called strikes. Friday against Minnesota was even better with eight strikes on nine pitches.
“All I’m trying to do is go out there and throw everything I’ve got in the zone,” Slaten said. “If they hit it, they hit it, and if not, great.”
Tweaks paying off
This time last year Tanner Houck was still recovering from back surgery, and while he believed entering camp he was fully healthy, he’d come to realize later that wasn’t the case.
Now he really is fully healthy, which has helped Houck enjoy some of the biggest velocity gains by any pitcher in camp, Alex Cora said last week.
Those velo gains weren’t obvious in his first outing, but his command was vastly improved. Houck was perfect in his debut on Monday, and afterwards he said he’s made some mechanical adjustments he hopes will cut down on his walks in the future.
“Anyone who’s ever shot a gun or shot a bow, wherever your sight is, that’s where it’s going,” Houck said. “I’m treating my left shoulder as my sight, pointing it towards home, and if I get it over wrapped then it’s pointing at the third base dugout or the hitter. So as long as I can keep that in line, keep my head still going towards home plate, I like my chances of getting it over the plate.”
“I love the way he goes about his business, very calm, cool, collected, very focused and diligent in his side work and his routines,” Bailey said. “His ability to be in zone is really going to help him capture his upside and he’s off to a good start so far.”
Campbell adding new sinker
Acquired in exchange for second baseman Luis Urias last November, righthander Isaiah Campbell had a strong rookie season in Seattle last year, posting a 2.83 ERA in 27 appearances. He was a monster against lefties, holding batters to a .483 OPS, but while he was effective against righties too (.704 OPS), Bailey felt Campbell needed another weapon to help keep those batters honest.
“I think finding a fastball that we can be in zone with against righties is going to help him,” Bailey said.
The solution was a new sinker, which Campbell began throwing in early January and debuted in game action this past week.
“It’s still a very new pitch but very happy with how it’s coming along,” Campbell said. “Really happy with the two I threw to (Nolan) Arenado, threw them both for strikes with good movement on them, so it’s getting more and more comfortable with it, and the more I throw in games — I don’t think it’s a pitch I’ll strike a lot of guys out with, it’s going to be showing right-handed hitters something else.”
Campbell is among the top contenders for one of the last spots in Boston’s bullpen. Like Slaten, he’s thrown three straight scoreless outings to start the spring.