Red Sox: Michael Wacha must continue his stellar 2022 against Chicago

The Red Sox need Michael Wacha to be Stellar once again

Well, Red Sox Nation, this has been one hell of a tough start to the season. Normally, I do my best to try and be a cheerleader for the club but there isn’t much to root for right now. Night after night they find some new way to rip our hearts out and lose in some spectacular fashion. Now, it isn’t all doom and gloom as we do have a few bright spots to keep our eyes on and Michael Wacha definitely falls in that category.

Wacha is a Chaim Bloom Special, signed for cheap with hopes that he can once again find what he had during his best seasons. I don’t know if it’s just been a matter of a change of scenery or just linking up with the right team, the righty has been phenomenal so far in 2022. It’s no secret that the Red Sox offense has been absent for almost the entirety of the season, Wacha has been lucky to get some of the few runs the team has scored.

He’s made five starts so far and owns a 3-0 record, considering the Red Sox have only won 10 games, that’s pretty wild. The righty owns a 1.38 ERA through 26 innings of work with a 0.923 WHIP. At some point, the carriage will turn back into a pumpkin, at least to some degree, as his FIP sits at 3.89 and he has a 6.6/3.8 K/BB ratio. I’m hoping today isn’t that day since we need him to shut down a White Sox offense that can tack on runs with the best of ’em.

The longtime Cardinal relies on a fastball/changeup one-two punch while mixing in a cutter and curveball to balance out his main weapons. His fastball has hovered around 93 mph with the change coming in around 85 mph, per FanGraphs. He’ll need everything cooking this morning if the Red Sox want to not get swept by Chicago. It may only be May, but they simply cannot afford to get swept once again and put another tally into the loss column.

When Wacha was signed I’ll admit I wasn’t blown away by the addition to the roster. As I said above, it was a Chaim Bloom Special. Sign low and hope the return is high. Much like Rich Hill and James Paxton, Bloom and the Sox are hoping that adding cheap veterans to the roster can help push this team further toward another championship. So far not so good. But, Wacha and Hill have both given far more than any of us could’ve ever expected and time will tell with Paxton.

To say this Red Sox team has been miserable to watch is an understatement. Outside of a few names here and there in the order and pitching staff, things are rough. The season is still young but the games are falling off the calendar in what feels like a hurry. There’s time to turn things around but not enough that there shouldn’t be at least some panic. Today is going to be a big day, one that can set the tone for the week and it all starts with Wacha.