Red Sox should call up Josh Winckowski
So with Houck moving to the rotation and Hill and Whitlock moving to the bullpen, that levaes one open spot in my make-believe rotation. And while the Red Sox could theoretically do bullpen games and openers until Chris Sale and James Paxton return, they have a better option just sitting in Triple-A in Josh Winckowski.
Now it’s easy to say that the grass is always greener and a pitcher dominating the Triple-A level is better than the one struggling in the bigs, but as we’ve seen already this year with the Red Sox, Triple-A success can translate to the show. John Schreiber similarly tore apart the International League, and has been even better with the Red Sox.
Winkowski, who owns a 2.10 ERA over six starts in Worcester, shares many of the same traits as Schreiber. He throws a ton of strikes, as evident by his 2.1 BB/9, and generates ground balls at over a 60% clip. Those types of pitchers have an extremely high floor and can excel in a multitude of roles. There’s not much more that WInckowski needs to prove at the minor league level, and it’s only a matter of time before he gets his chance in the bigs.