McAdam: After a disastrous season, Red Sox preaching importance of pitchers getting ahead

It may seem like nothing more than common sense, but the Red Sox have placed a special emphasis this spring on having their pitchers work aggressively within the strike zone.

Time after time, Alex Cora has referenced the phrase when talking about a member of his pitching staff. It's been said about Martin Perez, about Josh Taylor and a number of younger prospects.

Whether the pitcher is young or established, lefty or righty, the Red Sox are taking steps to make sure that every pitcher is making a conscious effort to throw pitches within the zone, rather than nibbling at the corners and trying to induce hitters to chase.

The dictum goes beyond avoiding walks, although that could very much a side benefit. In an era when the home run is the chief weapon, the last thing a pitcher needs is additional baserunners when a mistake invariably leaves the ballpark.

And, make no mistake, the Red Sox as a staff issued far too many walks last year -- the most, in fact, of any team in the big leagues. While the league average was 3.5 walks per nine innings, the Red Sox far exceeded that with a walk rate of 4.3.

But in addition to limiting baserunners, the Red Sox are intent on having their pitchers avoid being in hitters' counts, for obvious reasons. Last year, when Boston pitchers were ahead in the count, opposing batters hit just .219; when the hitters were ahead, meanwhile, they hit .320 -- a swing of more than 100 points.

And thanks to too often being behind in the count, coupled with a lack of talent, the Sox also allowed 98 homers last year -- the most of any staff in the game.

"It's no secret that, to be successful, you have to throw strikes,'' said pitching coach Dave Bush. "That's been the case for as long as baseball's been around. Throwing strikes is where you're going to get outs, getting hitters to swing the bat, working ahead in the count. A strikeout can't happen until there's two strikes first. So it's really getting ourselves in a position where we can pitch ahead and control the count. That way, the pitcher can dictate what he wants to throw and where he wants to throw it.

"This also bears out analytically. There's a lot of support for production levels going up for pitchers when they pitch ahead in the count, when they throw more strikes. It's from all angles -- from my own personal experience, from what I saw last year, from what we have in data. If we're going to be successful through efficiency and throwing more strikes, we've got to throw strikes early in the count. It's a lot easier to pitch 0-0, 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, then it is 2-0, 2-1. It gets harder when the hitters are in command.''

Cora, of course, wasn't on the job in 2020. But he recalls seeing the same issues dating back to 2019.

"It felt like our bullpen was always in 3-2 counts, we were walking a lot of guys,'' Cora said. "We were really good about getting ahead 0-2 on a hitter, and then somehow, someway, they ended up at first with a walk. There were a lot of situations where we had two outs and nobody on, and all of a sudden, we'd walk a guy and then there was a two-run homer.

"We have to be more aggressive. Stuff plays at this level. You've got to get people out in the strike zone. That's the most important thing. We can talk about high fastballs and breaking balls down, but if you're not close to the strike zone, they're not going to swing.''

So far, Bush has seen the results he'd been seeking.



"Most of the games,'' he noted of the Grapefruit League play, "when we pitch really well, we're ahead in the count, we're efficient, we take control of the game and allow our stuff to play in the strike zone.''

Last season, when Red Sox pitchers routinely fell behind, some of it was the result of execution. The 2020 staff was full of journeyman and 4A pitchers who hadn't yet established themselves at the big league level, and it showed. Sometimes, pitchers couldn't throw strikes; other times, they didn't want to, lacking the confidence in their stuff and afraid to pitch consistently in the zone.

Now, with a more normal season, the return of Eduardo Rodriguez and the addition of Garrett Richards, the Red Sox staff isn't as full of untested arms, pitchers can take a more aggressive approach.

"Confidence is definitely part of it,'' said Bush. "A big part of our message is just encouraging guys (and saying), 'Look, you're in big league camp and you're in the big leagues and you have good enough stuff to get people out. If you didn't, you wouldn't be here, quite simply.' We brought in players that have good stuff and we're trying to arm them with the confidence that they can get hitters out in the strike zone.

"The strike zone is small, hitters are very disciplined. Nibbling at the corners and pitching behind in the count is a really difficult way to go. So again, we're just encouraging guys that they have good enough stuff. The fact that we're putting them out on the mound means that we believe they have good enough stuff to get big league hitters out. So we're starting with that confidence, encouraging guys to attack the strike zone and then building a philosophy and a plan around that.''

It helps that this year's staff is both more experienced and accomplished. But even a talent upgrade only goes so far.  Some of it comes down to approach.

"No matter what your stuff is,'' said Bush, "you have to throw strikes. It's critically important that the pitcher stays in command and in control of the at-bat.''