BOSTON — If there’s a pitcher that frightens the batting gloves off the Red Sox — not that they’d ever admit it — it’s David Price.
Starting with his three appearances out of the bullpen in the 2008 American League Championship Series, Price has mowed down Red Sox hitters like no opposing pitcher has. Of the pitchers with at least 10 starts against the Red Sox since 2009, only Baltimore’s Chris Tillman has a better ERA against the Red Sox than Price’s 2.93, and only Hiroki Kuroda has a better strikeout-to-walk ratio.
You are viewing: Does David Price Where Batting Gloves When He Hits
What makes Price – Tampa Bay’s starter in Game Two of the ALDS on Saturday – so effective is his ability to get swings and misses with fastballs in the strike zone. There’s no way for the Red Sox to work counts and draw walks against a pitcher who’s doing that. Price has issued three walks in 322/3 innings pitched against Boston this year.
Price primarily features his mid-90s two-seam fastball against left-handed hitters. To the extent that he mixes in secondary pitches — his sinker is good enough that it can be his primary weapon — he throws a sweeping curveball around 80 mph.
The last time Price faced the Red Sox, almost two-thirds of the pitches he threw to lefties were sinkers. It’s a pitch that all but neutralizes Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz when thrown from the left side — and, naturally, both Ellsbury and Ortiz have hit under .220 against Price in their careers, though Ortiz has drawn a handful of walks and Ellsbury has hit for a bit of power.
Read more : When Is Newjeans Comeback
To righties, Price still leans heavily on his sinker but mixes in his four-seamer, his changeup and his cutter much more frequently. If Red Sox hitters give up on his curveball like they did at Tropicana Field last month — of the 12 times he threw it in that game, they swung only twice — it could be a pitch he uses to get ahead in the count early.
A lot of Boston hitters tend to hit curveballs from left-handed pitchers — among them Will Middlebrooks, Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia — and so Price still figures to pick his spots with that pitch.
The At-bat(s)
Perhaps the finest game pitched against the Red Sox this season was the 97-pitch complete Price tossed at Fenway Park in late July. He struck out eight and didn’t issue a walk, and a Napoli home run was the only damage.
When Price is on, there’s no sense in working the count against him — even for a patient team such as the Red Sox. What tends to happen is that Price just gets ahead 0-1 and 0-2 with fastballs, and opposing hitters hit .183 while striking out 151 times in the 374 plate appearances in which Price got to two strikes.
And so it behooves good hitters to take an aggressive approach, to find a fastball and hit it early in the count.
Read more : Why Do Dogs Howl When Alone
When the normally patient Pedroia came up with a runner on first and no outs in the fourth inning of that game, he went up with the plan to swing. He fouled off a changeup down and away and then took another hack at a cutter down and away, rolling it to shortstop for a double play.
The outcome wasn’t what the Red Sox wanted, but the intent seemed to be right — both of the pitches were in the strike zone, and taking both would have resulted only in an 0-2 count.
Matchup to watch
There’s only so much one can glean from the five at-bats David Ross has in his career against Price. But Ross is expected to be in the Red Sox lineup thanks in part to the two home runs he’s hit in those five at-bats.
Ross is a fastball hitter – especially a two-seam fastball hitter. He’s hit .337 with a .526 slugging percentage against sinkers in his career, according to BrooksBaseball.net data – and his slugging percentage on sinkers is even higher against lefties. Of the 11 home runs he’s hit against lefties since 2007, five have come on sinkers.
There’s every chance Ross strikes out a couple of times against Price. But there’s also every chance Ross gets a sinker he likes and turns on it, whacking it off or over the Green Monster for a game-changing hit.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHEN
