Scott working way back with new delivery
Reliever underwent left elbow surgery that forced delivery change
PAWTUCKET — Robby Scott went into last October’s surgery with a range of motion of negative 42 degrees.
“My elbow was basically stuck,” said Scott as he provided a reporter with a demonstration of what he had to contend with prior to undergoing a left elbow arthroscopy and debridement. “Now I can straighten it without a problem.”
With a corrective procedure came a new delivery for the PawSox southpaw, one that took some time to master. Understandably, Scott was brought along at a slower pace than the rest of the Pawtucket relievers at the season’s onset. The 28-year-old felt that things started to click throwing the slider as spring training came to a close, but only recently has Scott turned the corner as far as his workload.
Scott threw just 11 of his 25 pitches for strikes in his eighth-inning appearance on Monday as the PawSox captured their second straight game against Lehigh Valley, 6-1. He walked two but ultimately escaped with a 5-4-3 double-play that ended the frame.
Just as noteworthy, Scott topped out at 91 miles per hour. According to Fangraphs, Scott over the course of his 57 games with the Red Sox last season averaged 88.8 mph on fastballs.
Monday was the second straight outing that saw Scott toss exactly 25 pitches. Friday, he logged a season-high two innings en route to retiring all six Lehigh Valley hitters he faced, three via strikeout. For a pitcher who hadn’t tossed more than one inning in any of his previous 16 outings prior to his recent two-inning stint, it was definitely an encouraging step.
“It’s nice to go two innings once in a while, but those opportunities are hard to come by,” Scott said. “Basically, I had to relearn a new arm slot and get into a position where I was comfortable with it. It became a matter of repetition and getting back on the mound on a regular basis.”
The increased workload comes at a time when the PawSox have been searching for every available opportunity to provide their relievers with the chance to throw multiple innings in a given outing. The presence of rehabbers like Tyler Thornburg and Austin Maddox have cut into how the innings get distributed, but Scott was always a step behind everyone else. Scott’s spot on the pecking order had nothing to do with the Sox viewing him as a situational guy.
“We gave him shorter stints so we could build him back up. That was by design,” PawSox manager Kevin Boles said. “He needs to face righties and lefties, but we’re rotating all of the lefties we have on the 40man roster as far as finding them work.”
Pawtucket’s three left-handed options out of the bullpen include Scott, Williams Jerez, and Bobby Poyner. Scott has been tough against right-handed batters – .237 batting average in 9.2 innings – and lefties – .077 batting average in eight innings.
“He’s looked very sharp,” Boles said. “He’s reliable and throws everything at you. He’s not afraid to mix and gets right after it.”
Scott has 64 games of MLB experience under his belt and is well-schooled in what needs to happen in order for him to return to Boston’s bullpen. Until that happens, all he can do is keep building on his stellar body of work, which includes eight straight scoreless appearances for Pawtucket and a 1.53 ERA in 18 games.
“Time will and we’ll see what happens, but you can’t worry about decisions like that. What I can control is going out there and being reliable,” Scott said.
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The Chandler Shepherd starting pitching experiment had another positive result on Monday as the righty limited the first-place IronPigs to one run in seven innings. The 25-year old gave up just four hits, struck out six, walked two and only allowed a runner to reach second base in the fourth inning.
“I thought he established his fastball early, got his cutter in the mix, used all of his pitches — curveball, change,” Boles said of Shepherd. “He did a really nice job and he stuck with his mix. He didn’t just become one-dimensional.”
In five starts in May, Shepherd posted a 2.22 ERA (seven earned runs in 28.1 innings) with 21 strikeouts against just six walks. In four of those five starts, he didn’t allow more than one earned run. He made the transition from reliever to starter during the offseason, which also saw him added to Boston’s 40-man roster.
“The process is going great,” Shepherd said. “The routine is something that’s getting instilled in me now, so I think I’m on a good page with that. Now I think it’s just continuing to be a smarter baseball player and working through that lineup that second, third, fourth time.”
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EXTRA BASES: Sam Travis paced Pawtucket’s offense with his second home run in four games, while Tzu-Wei Lin recorded his second straight multi-hit game. Pawtucket did leave 11 runners on base and was 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. “We swung the bats a little bit better, but we also missed some opportunities,” said Boles. “It’s always good to see some runs on the scoreboard.” … College baseball’s field of 64 for the upcoming NCAA Tournament was announced Monday and there’s no shortage of representation in the PawSox clubhouse: Scott (Florida State), Poyner (Florida), Travis (Indiana), outfielder Cole Sturgeon (Louisville), infielder Mike Olt (UConn), reliever Kyle Martin (Texas A&M), reliever Brandon Workman (Texas), and infielder Jordan Betts (Duke). … The PawSox hit the road for six straight games – three in Norfolk followed by three games in Durham – before returning to McCoy on June 5. … The fan-portion component used to decide who will be representing their favorite Triple-A player at the All-Star Game in July is now open. Visit www.milb. com/ballot for more information. … Mark your calendar, as Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore will be at McCoy Stadium on Thursday, June 21. Gilmore will greet fans and throw out the ceremonial first pitch.