Red Sox pitching, defense keying their winning ways

The Boston Red Sox are number one in the American League in defense – both pitching and fielding. Stopping runs can alleviate the need for losing runs on offense.

In baseball the path to success and therefore winning is defense. The most significant component of defense is pitching. Baseball is a unique sport since the defense actually controls the ball. The Red Sox staff has performed far above expectations. Now by expectations, one has to consider April – a depressing April.

Steven Wright, an All-Star in 2016, succumbed to a knee injury. Prior to that pitching tragic moment, Wright had done little to merit any confidence among the fans, media and probably silently among his teammates. The bad news on the doorstep only magnified as David Price also went in the triage unit for two months. The depression increased.

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Bullpen dependent baseball of 2017 required worthy arms and the two highly promising acquisitions – Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg – are unavailable. Smith is in slow recovery mode and Thornburg is done for 2017. Yet the setbacks have not impeded the Red Sox staff. They remain collective number one in the American League. Even the injury-battered bullpen has exceeded what personally I thought would be a cataclysmic pitcher disaster – a bullpen Chernobyl.

The second part of the defensive equation is the very fundamental skill set when you play in the field. A simple matter of catching the ball and throwing it with relative accuracy to get an out. Pitchers love a steady defense that is capable of being a gigantic eraser for a hanging curveball or a fastball that found too much of the plate.

The Red Sox are ranked first defensively in the American League if you are an advocate of metrics. On the far more mundane defensive statistic of fielding percentage, the Red Sox are currently third in the American League. The eraser is working rather well.

The Red Sox do have some notable weak links in their defensive array. Andrew Benintendi is the primary culprit for the 13^th ranking among left fielders. Benintendi’s -8.6 UZR/150 stands out in a negative way. The rookie is capable of making some amazing athletic grabs, such as the one recently in Texas. Benintendi is also quite capable of allowing a semi-routine line drive to tie him up like you would escape artist Houdini. Benny is a work in progress.

The entire Red Sox outfield ranks third in the American League obviously bolstered by the acrobatics and laser arms of Jackie Bradley and Mookie Betts. What is so dear to pitchers is both Betts and Bradley making runners chances of first to third on a hit like riding a motorcycle in a hurricane – you do it at optimum risk.