Red Sox righty Kutter Crawford has work to do down in Worcester

Red Sox option Kutter Crawford to Worcester after latest start

Kutter Crawford’s time with the Red Sox has come to an end, at least for now. After getting beaten up by the Cardinals last night the team has chosen to option him back to Worcester. Now, it’s not all due to one bad start as Boston did pick up a new reliever yesterday so this was more of a move to make room. Still, the young righty knows he’s got some work to do if he wants to get back to the big leagues and stay there.

St. Louis is leading the NL Central and for a very good reason. That lineup doesn’t miss and if you make it easy on them it’s only going to be worse. Crawford shined in his last start against the Mariners but last night was another story.

His pitches just didn’t have the movement that he was looking for and it’s something he said after the game that he needs to work on in Triple-A, per MLB’s Ian Browne. Alex Cora is very optimistic for his young righty but wants him to take his time.

"“There’s work to be done, and we’re going to get after it,” said Crawford, Boston’s No. 24 prospect as rated by MLB Pipeline. “That I need to command all five of my pitches,” Crawford said. “I need to get my splitter in the zone more often to keep hitters honest with the ball moving the other direction versus everything going away. That’s cutters, sliders and just moving the fastball inside and outside and not just staying on one side of the plate.”"

When your pitches aren’t doing what you need them to it’s going to be a long night, especially against a lineup that loves knocking in runs. Some nights ya just don’t have it and that’s perfectly fine. A loss is never fun but at least it was to a team that is running their division and not a bottom-feeding squad. Luckily, Boston took the first game and have a chance at completing the series win this afternoon.

For Crawford, it’s been an interesting run in the Majors for him. He’s had plenty of time out of the bullpen with a few starts mixed in depending on where the Red Sox needed him at the time.

As I mentioned above, he controlled the Mariners to the tune of one hit over the spend of five innings adding in four walks and seven whiffs. He had his stuff working that day and the end result was well deserved.

I’m not sure where Kutter is going to fit into the mix as the future unfolds. Boston has a solid crop of pitching studs right now with Brayan Bello and Connor Seabold cooking at the moment while Bryan Mata works his way back from injury.

We’ve also seen Josh Winckowski pop up with the big club and he’s done some solid work in the Minors as well. The Red Sox aren’t known for cultivating homegrown pitching talent, but at the moment, they’re buzzing with serious arms.

While I think Kutter has the stuff to be a solid starter in the future for this club it’s exactly how he said it, a matter of keeping hitters honest. If he isn’t moving his pitches around to keep the opposing sluggers on their toes, he’s going to get rocked night in and night out. I also can see him being that long relief option for AC down the road when needed.

Cora spoke very highly of the right-hander and is very high on what he can do when he has everything working in his favor. Some time down in Worcester to get things cleaned up and analyze what needs to be done to get his arsenal dancing could be just what he needs.

His time with the Red Sox is nowhere near over, they have trust in him, it’s just a matter of figuring out the equation so he can be a full-time weapon at the big league level.

"“He showed some flashes of good stuff. The four-seamer played today,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “The cutter was OK. The breaking ball wasn’t there. So, that’s a good lineup. It seems like they were hunting certain pitches. Seemed like the four-seamer gave them trouble. Everything in between, they were on it.”"