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Red Sox: Former pitchers that failed to live up to expectations

By Rick McNair |
Oct 10, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz (11) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians during game three of the 2016 ALDS playoff baseball series at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz (11) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians during game three of the 2016 ALDS playoff baseball series at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
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The Boston Red Sox have had many players who never lived up to the future projected for them, such as Clay Buchholz. This is a look at a few pitching disappointments for the 1960’s.

Sep 18, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; The Boston Red Sox take batting practice prior to a game against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 18, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; The Boston Red Sox take batting practice prior to a game against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

Clay Buchholz is gone from the torment – at least locally – of simply failing to fulfill the promise his talented arm had. Buchholz had a rocky career with the Boston Red Sox, mixing exceptional stretches of superior performances with stretches where he was a disaster. The great promise never consistently materialized, but I wish him well in Philadelphia.

Red Sox fans and fans of every professional sports team can dredge up players that were high-profile draft picks, performed up to expectations and quickly faded or fell apart thanks to an injury or a serious of injuries. Sometimes it is just a mystery about why one of great promise simply fails to meet expectations.

The Red Sox roster has an abundance of young talent that has produced – Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackie Bradley are all All-Stars. All have produced enough to show that a long and productive career is expected, but all is not as it seems to me – one or more may fail.

Great promise sometimes results in bitter disappointment. That brought back some memories of Red Sox pitchers from the 1960s whose great promise never materialized for an extensive career. This is a look at a few and – like Buchholz – I will stay in the realm of pitchers.

Oct 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Members of the 2004 2007 an 2013 World Series team as well as current players lineup for the national anthem prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Members of the 2004 2007 an 2013 World Series team as well as current players lineup for the national anthem prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

The surprise of the 1961 season was not Carl Yastrzemski, but a towering (6’6”) right-handed hurler named Don Schwall. Yaz was supposed to be the favorite for Rookie of the Year, but it was Schwall going 15-7 that took the award.

The record may have impressed, but digging deeper you see the significant flaw in Schwall’s pitching – 110 walks and 91 strikeouts in 178.2 innings pitched. The positive was an HR/9 of 0.4 that was the lowest in the league. After 1961 Schwall never got the magic back and never won as many as ten games. Schwall only played two seasons with Boston, but 1961 was certainly a memorable one.

The key to Schwall was always his inability to consistently find the plate. A career BB/9 4.7 is a death knell for pitchers. For Schwall, it never really improved. What is notable is the Red Sox staff in 1962 as one of the biggest you can find in baseball history. Dick Radatz, Schwall, Gene Conley and Earl Wilson looked like a defensive line or, in the case of Conley, a backup center for a championship Celtics team.

Oct 1, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; A Baseball glove and ball rest on the field prior to a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; A Baseball glove and ball rest on the field prior to a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

Tom Brewer had one of the greatest curveballs I ever saw and he also got stuck playing for some semi-dreadful Red Sox teams. Brewer was a right-hander who won 19 games for the 1956 Red Sox and had double-digit wins in seven of his eight seasons – all with Boston.

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Brewer was an extremely smooth pitcher with three pitchers that he had great command of. A Brewer fastball followed by a 12-6 curve was a deadly combination. When Brewer had complete control he was simply one of the best in the league. Brewer – like far too many pitchers – was subject to fits of control issues and that resulted in a career 4.0 BB/9.

Big things were expected of Brewer, who reeled off seven straight seasons of 10+ wins for the one-time All-Star, but the last few seasons were symptomatic of a player whose arm was deteriorating. The wins – not helped by a wretched team – declined and the Brewer earned run average climbed.

Brewer was finished by age 29 due to arm and shoulder injuries that with today’s medicine could have been repaired. Still, Brewer posted 91 wins in his brief career.

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In 1965 manager Billy Herman led the Red Sox to a ninth-place finish in the American League with a miserable 62-100 record. Another depressing season for those of us who took the time to wander over to Fenway Park which was showing considerable wear and tear. One bright spot was a 22-year-old righty named, Dave Morehead.

Morehead and Bill Monbouquette tied for the league lead in losses with 18. A tall righty named Jim Lonborg almost matched Monbo and Morehead with his 17 losses. Hard-throwing Earl Wilson managed 13 wins to front the rotation. The glimmer of hope was the promise that both Lonborg and Morehead presented.

That hope faded quickly for Morehead, who in the next five seasons posted a total of 12 wins between Boston and Kansas City. What happened? Morehead simply wrecked his arm when his spikes caught in a game against the Tigers in 1966. According to Morehead “something popped” and that was that.

Morehead – like Brewer – had a great curve ball. The overhand twelve to six that he could drop over at any count. I actually saw Morehead toss a no-hitter at Fenway Park in 1965 when you would see more folks at a Dunkin’ Donuts that day than the ballpark.

Oct 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; (EDITORS NOTE: a star filter used in the creation of this image) Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz (34) bats during the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; (EDITORS NOTE: a star filter used in the creation of this image) Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz (34) bats during the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

Jerry Stephenson’s father was a Red Sox scout so in those pre-draft days it was all about the money and Stephenson got that. Stephenson made his first Boston stop in 1963 as a 19-year-old. The right-hander return in 1965 for 15 games.

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Stephenson was on the fast track in 1964 for the Red Sox farm team in Seattle when he injured his elbow. Stephenson was 6-4, 1.57 at that point and his season was done. Stephenson spent 1965 with Boston going 1-5, 6.23.

Stephenson was an up and down pitcher for the Red Sox and later for the Seattle Pilots and the Dodgers as he spent considerable time in the minors, including an 18-5 season with Spokane in the Pacific Coast League. The MLB total was just 8-19, but Stephenson was part of the remarkable 1967 team pitching two innings in the World Series allowing a pair of runs.

Why Stephenson stalled, could be placed on being advanced too quickly, misused, the traumatic elbow injury or just not having the MLB talent level. The promise was certainly there – at least at first, but it never surfaced.

Stephenson’s son, Ben, is now in the scouting department of the Dodgers. Jerry spent his post-playing career as a scout, following in his father’s footsteps. Three generations of a baseball scout.

Apr 20, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; A general view of the box seats at Fenway Park prior to a game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 20, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; A general view of the box seats at Fenway Park prior to a game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

Left-handed pitchers do have a reputation for being a trifle zany at times and that described Dennis Bennett, who Boston picked up from the Phillies in exchange for Dick Stuart – another questionable character. An equal personality trade? Probably.

Bennett came to Boston after posting a 12-14 record for a Phillies team that had one of the great collapses in baseball history the last two weeks of the season. Big things were expected of the 24-year-old, but Bennett started the 1965 season on the sidelines with a sore arm.

When Bennett finally recovered, he shuffled between the bullpen and the rotation compiling a 5-7 record. The shoulder had worsened during the season and Bennett had off-season surgery. The shoulder injury can be traced back to a car accident that Bennett had in 1963 that caused pain his entire pitching career.

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Bennett – at least the Bennett I saw – had good stuff – especially his change and breaking ball. What Bennett lacked was the consistency that would have allowed him to be part of the rotation. Bennett claims that if healthy he could have produced far greater numbers and I can’t disagree.

Sources: Baseball-reference/SABR/Peter Golenbock

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