Red Sox (Crochet) vs Blue Jays (Francis): 4/29/25, 7:07pm

[Larry Cook]

Is this umpire on the blue jays payroll??? How many extra pitches has crochet thrown because of him???

[vegasbob]

That is the way to back Crochet and start the series with a win.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The play by play guy in the Toronto booth quoted Cora as saying that Narvaez is the best defensive catcher in MLB. 

I had heard he was really good on D, but I never expected this good.

Brez has made some nice deals.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Red Sox have scored 30 runs in their three game win streak.  Boston batters have only struck out 15 times in the trio, with eight home runs the past two games.

Is this a new offensive approach or the product of facing sub-par pitching? Only one HR has not been pulled -- an oppo shot by Kristian Campbell.

It's all good until it's not, but for fans of more contact and less whiffs, the words of player development director Brian Abraham are unsettling.

When discussing Roman Anthony, who has been hitting the ball harder all over the field than just about anyone in the system, Abraham recently mentioned the one thing he wanted baseball's #1 hitting prospect to improve on is pulling the ball in the air.

Isn't that approach the biggest cause of the Red Sox' team strikeouts? Isn't a guy who instead crushes pitches gap-to-gap exactly the type of batter Boston needs to balance the line-up?

 

[mvp 78]

18 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

29th in HR/9 (pitchers)

TOR proceeds to give up 5 HR's. 😍

They are now 30th in MLB in HR/9 for pitching. 

[mvp 78]

21 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Red Sox have scored 30 runs in their three game win streak.  Boston batters have only struck out 15 times in the trio, with eight home runs the past two games.

Is this a new offensive approach or the product of facing sub-par pitching? Only one HR has not been pulled -- an oppo shot by Kristian Campbell.

It's all good until it's not, but for fans of more contact and less whiffs, the words of player development director Brian Abraham are unsettling.

When discussing Roman Anthony, who has been hitting the ball harder all over the field than just about anyone in the system, Abraham recently mentioned the one thing he wanted baseball's #1 hitting prospect to improve on is pulling the ball in the air.

Isn't that approach the biggest cause of the Red Sox' team strikeouts? Isn't a guy who instead crushes pitches gap-to-gap exactly the type of batter Boston needs to balance the line-up?

 

Red Sox go oppo 18.4%. League Average is 17.7%. 

Red Sox pull 29%. League Average is 30.8%. 

They actually pull less than other teams. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

12 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Red Sox go oppo 18.4%. League Average is 17.7%. 

Red Sox pull 29%. League Average is 30.8%. 

They actually pull less than other teams. 

That's because they swing and miss more when they try to pull.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

 

Is this a new offensive approach or the product of facing sub-par pitching? Only one HR has not been pulled -- an oppo shot by Kristian Campbell.

It's likely normal fluctuation of tiny sample sizes.

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It's likely normal fluctuation of tiny sample sizes.

Not even at Memorial Day yet! Hard to really comment on approach changes other than to say "Sox are in 2nd place." 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

The Red Sox were so consistent with their approach of striking out and leaving runners on base for a month, that this sudden teeny tiny extended weekend of Billy Sample size must be an aberration.

Don't worry, after Toronto, Boston faces four of the AL's top pitching staffs in a row: Minny, Texas, KC and Detroit in a 12-game ample size. If everyone in the batting order pulls homers and doesn't K through May, I'll cheer for every Little Leaguer who finishes a swing staring into a dugout over their front shoulder.

But it's not even next year yet. Rehire Fatse and Lawson!

[vegasbob]

15 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I had heard he was really good on D, but I never expected this good.

Brez has made some nice deals.

And not totally incompetent with the bat at .626, better than  Cedanne's .610     

Wong may find himself  spending time at !B vs LH'ers , however,  Wong hadf a terrible start at bat OPS'ing .279 

If Sabol wasn't so terribly bad both on offense ( .353) and D , Conor may have heard some footsteps chasing him.    But no worries if it's Sabol only.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, vegasbob said:

And not totally incompetent with the bat at .626, better than  Cedanne's .610     

Wong may find himself  spending time at !B vs LH'ers , however,  Wong hadf a terrible start at bat OPS'ing .279 

If Sabol wasn't so terribly bad both on offense ( .353) and D , Conor may have heard some footsteps chasing him.    But no worries if it's Sabol only.

Wong is a career 686 vs LHP. 

Casas is a career 823 vs LHP. 

I don't know if I'd be quick to put Wong into the lineup unless Casas really needed a day off and Romy was injured. 

[vegasbob]

27 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Wong is a career 686 vs LHP. 

Casas is a career 823 vs LHP. 

I don't know if I'd be quick to put Wong into the lineup unless Casas really needed a day off and Romy was injured. 

I think most would agree that a team needs 2 fair to good catchers  to get through a season, so Cora will need to allocate enough  games to Wong to see if he can find his way at the plate and even re-establish potential trade value.  I would not lose sleep over who is #1 or #2 at the position. Perhaps that sorts out with preferential pitcher-catcher matchups.

Injuries are common at  catcher and the Sox lost the youth replacement movement when Teel was traded, among others,  for a guy who only works 20% of the time, hah !

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, vegasbob said:

And not totally incompetent with the bat at .626, better than  Cedanne's .610     

Wong may find himself  spending time at !B vs LH'ers , however,  Wong hadf a terrible start at bat OPS'ing .279 

If Sabol wasn't so terribly bad both on offense ( .353) and D , Conor may have heard some footsteps chasing him.    But no worries if it's Sabol only.

I'm not sure Wong can or will ever hit lefties as well as Romy has, recently.

Plus, and interesting factoid:

Wong's career splits: .711 v R and .686 v L.

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Wong is a career 686 vs LHP. 

Casas is a career 823 vs LHP. 

I don't know if I'd be quick to put Wong into the lineup unless Casas really needed a day off and Romy was injured. 

Even then, I might slide Bregman over before putting Wong there

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not sure Wong can or will ever hit lefties as well as Romy has, recently.

Plus, and interesting factoid:

Wong's career splits: .711 v R and .686 v L.

Good point moon, surprised nobody else brought up Wong’s career split against LHP.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Good point moon, surprised nobody else brought up Wong’s career split against LHP.

LOL, I didn't see your post, but you know, I've been talking about it for over a year.