Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 16, 2024 15:47:09 GMT -5
The Red Sox righty Kutter Crawford out to try to win the rubber game of the series with the Yanks on the ESPNSundayNightBlecchhCast, listing as starting at 7:10, but likely to start a couple of minutes later for extra lame analysis from Ortiz, A-Rod and Jeter, plus as many commercials as they can shove in before 1st pitch. Crawford was drafted in the 16th round in 2017. He worked his way up the system pretty much one level at a time, mastering each level except for AAA. He got to that level when he was 25, and started 10 games there, 3-4 with a 5.21 ERA. In spite of his poor AAA showing, the Sox called him up to make one bad start against the then Indians, and back down he went for the rest of the season. Crawford began 2022 in the Sox pen, pitched poorly, and they sent him to AAA to stretch him out some, recalled him to make 1 good start and 1 bad one. The sent him back down to make two good AAA starts, then brought him back to Boston, and put him into the rotation at the beginning of July. He pitched well in the first 8 starts, but got hammered the last 3. The reason his pitching suffered became clear when the Sox put him on the IL for the rest of the season with a right shoulder impingement in early September.
Crawford opened last season in the rotation, after 1 terrible start and one very good one, he was optioned back to AAA when Garrett Whitlock came off the IL, only to be recalled almost immediately when reliever Zack Kelly got injured. The Sox put him in the pen, and he pitched well in 5 games, before suffered a hamstring injury. After returning from the IL, the Sox put him in the pen for 2 games, then stretched him out right in the rotation, pitching 5 innings in his 4th start, and 6 in his 5th. He stayed in the rotation the rest of the year, going 5-6 with a 4.20 ERA, pitching more good games than bad ones. This year, after 5 brilliant starts, he has an ERA of 0.66, but was just 1-0 because the bullpen kept blowing up after he left, allowing, 3, 5, 7 and 6 runs in 4 of the 5; Crawford won the 5th because the pen did it's job that day. In the last 9 starts, he's pitched poorly, going 1-6 with a 4.92 ERA while the Sox lost 8 of the 9 starts. On the season, Crawford is 2-6 with a 3.47 ERA. In 80 1/3 innings, he's allowed 70 hits, 37 runs, 31 earned, 8 HR, 25 BB, 79 K and a solid WHIP of 1.183.
Crawford has started 4 games and relieved in two against the Yanks, and his record is brilliant if relatively brief. Against them, he's 2-1 with a 1.90 ERA. In 23 2/3 innings, he's allowed 15 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned, 3 HR, 11 BB, with 26 K and a 1.099 WHIP. The Yankee team quadruple slash line against him is accordingly a poor .183/.287/.305/.592. He made two starts against them last season. In the first one at the Stadium in mid-August, he got the W by shutting them down for 6 innings on 1 hit, a solo HR by Judge, in an 8-1 Sox win. The Yanks did marginally better in the 2nd one in mid-September in Fenway. Again, he held them 1 run, but getting 3 hits and 3 BB, they forced him out after 4 2/3 inning with a pitchcount over 90, and the Yanks rallied for 3 runs of the Sox' pen to win 4-1.
Repertoire: Crawford is yet another kitchen sink 6-pitch righty, he throws both the sweeper and a rarely-used slider, but just one fastball, a 4-seamer. He also has a curve, a splitter, and, ahem, a cutter. He relies mostly on the FB, the sweeper and the cutter. He gets extra vertical movement on all except the slider (probably why he rarely uses it; apparently, it hangs). His FB velocity is subpar, but the spin rate is among the best in baseball, allowing him to use it more because it plays up (doesn't drop nearly as much as the average FB), though his poor extension works against that. The spin on his curve is also subpar, which is why he doesn't use it much, preferring the sweeper. The pitch mix so far this season: FB averaging 93 about 35% of the time, the cutter 87-8 about 32%, the sweeper 81 about 22%, the splitter 82-3 about 8%, the curve 77 about 6%, and the slider 84 about once every other game. He only threw one against the Phillies his last start, and none against the Braves the start before that.
Crawford opened last season in the rotation, after 1 terrible start and one very good one, he was optioned back to AAA when Garrett Whitlock came off the IL, only to be recalled almost immediately when reliever Zack Kelly got injured. The Sox put him in the pen, and he pitched well in 5 games, before suffered a hamstring injury. After returning from the IL, the Sox put him in the pen for 2 games, then stretched him out right in the rotation, pitching 5 innings in his 4th start, and 6 in his 5th. He stayed in the rotation the rest of the year, going 5-6 with a 4.20 ERA, pitching more good games than bad ones. This year, after 5 brilliant starts, he has an ERA of 0.66, but was just 1-0 because the bullpen kept blowing up after he left, allowing, 3, 5, 7 and 6 runs in 4 of the 5; Crawford won the 5th because the pen did it's job that day. In the last 9 starts, he's pitched poorly, going 1-6 with a 4.92 ERA while the Sox lost 8 of the 9 starts. On the season, Crawford is 2-6 with a 3.47 ERA. In 80 1/3 innings, he's allowed 70 hits, 37 runs, 31 earned, 8 HR, 25 BB, 79 K and a solid WHIP of 1.183.
Crawford has started 4 games and relieved in two against the Yanks, and his record is brilliant if relatively brief. Against them, he's 2-1 with a 1.90 ERA. In 23 2/3 innings, he's allowed 15 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned, 3 HR, 11 BB, with 26 K and a 1.099 WHIP. The Yankee team quadruple slash line against him is accordingly a poor .183/.287/.305/.592. He made two starts against them last season. In the first one at the Stadium in mid-August, he got the W by shutting them down for 6 innings on 1 hit, a solo HR by Judge, in an 8-1 Sox win. The Yanks did marginally better in the 2nd one in mid-September in Fenway. Again, he held them 1 run, but getting 3 hits and 3 BB, they forced him out after 4 2/3 inning with a pitchcount over 90, and the Yanks rallied for 3 runs of the Sox' pen to win 4-1.
Repertoire: Crawford is yet another kitchen sink 6-pitch righty, he throws both the sweeper and a rarely-used slider, but just one fastball, a 4-seamer. He also has a curve, a splitter, and, ahem, a cutter. He relies mostly on the FB, the sweeper and the cutter. He gets extra vertical movement on all except the slider (probably why he rarely uses it; apparently, it hangs). His FB velocity is subpar, but the spin rate is among the best in baseball, allowing him to use it more because it plays up (doesn't drop nearly as much as the average FB), though his poor extension works against that. The spin on his curve is also subpar, which is why he doesn't use it much, preferring the sweeper. The pitch mix so far this season: FB averaging 93 about 35% of the time, the cutter 87-8 about 32%, the sweeper 81 about 22%, the splitter 82-3 about 8%, the curve 77 about 6%, and the slider 84 about once every other game. He only threw one against the Phillies his last start, and none against the Braves the start before that.
