Red Sox Year in Review: Top five pleasant surprises of 2017
By Sean Penney
Red Sox fans wanted to run Drew Pomeranz out of town by the end of the 2016 season. Not only that, they wanted to kick Dave Dombrowski out along with him for coughing up the organization’s top pitching prospect to get him from San Diego.
Pomeranz was an All-Star with the Padres last year but was a mild disappointment following the mid-season trade that brought him to Boston. Concerns about the health of his arm combined with a career-high workload conspired to derail his second half, leaving many fans to assume the lefty was a bust.
It appears that initial reaction was a bit overblown. Pomeranz proved what he’s capable of this year be establishing himself as one of the league’s best pitchers. His 17 wins tied Chris Sale for the team lead and fourth most in the AL. Pomeranz was seventh with a 3.32 ERA and ninth with a 9.02 K/9 rate.
A mediocre start left fans slow to catch on to how much Pomeranz has improved. During a two month stretch from June 27 through August 28, Pomeranz went 8-0 with a 2.37 ERA.
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When the season opened, Pomeranz was battling for a rotation spot. The 2018 season will begin with Pomeranz locked into one of the spots behind Sale. The expected return of David Price will give the Red Sox a three-headed monster leading the rotation that most teams would envy. It’s the dream scenario Boston hoped they would have had this year with the only surprise being that Pomeranz is among that vaunted trio.