Red Sox starting pitching candidates for potential six-man rotation

Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi

The 2018 postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi is projected as the club’s number two man in the rotation. Without both Sale and E-Rod in 2020, Eovaldi was one of the only reliable pitchers the Sox had, starting 9 games during the shortened 60 game season and acting as the team’s ace. He managed to post a 4-2 record with a 3.72 ERA and was the only starter who opened up the year in the rotation that had a winning record.

Eovaldi has nasty stuff there is no questioning that, showcasing a fastball that can touch 100 mph and pairing that up with off-speed pitches is deadly. In the past, he has been known to show flashes of inconsistency which is something he has always dealt with. As long as Sale is out Boston desperately needs Eovaldi to be on his game and be able to be a guy that Cora can rely on and go at least five-plus innings every outing.

An encouraging sign was that he was able to stay relatively healthy and that is half the battle for a guy like Eovaldi. He has had countless amounts of surgeries in the past preparing his elbow which has been the reason why he bounced around team to team in the early stages of his career. At 31-years-old he cannot afford to have another scare because that could then potentially put his career at risk. That is obviously thinking worst-case scenario but based on the last year’s anything is possible.

If healthy, there is no arguing that he can be a serviceable pitcher and a guy who can be electrifying on the bump. He should be able to hold down the fort as the number two even though he is ideally viewed as a number three in a perfect world.