Red Sox Pitcher Developing into a Frontline Starter

Kutter Crawford by the Numbers

Crawford, 28, was long considered a bulk innings eater or a back-end rotation arm. His big break came in 2023, when he worked 129.1 innings with a 4.04 ERA. However, with his stuff, most, including Andrew Bailey, thought there was something else there.

This season, the emerging Red Sox ace has gotten off to a hot start. He leads all of MLB at a 0.66 ERA. His FIP of 2.33 suggests a bit of luck, but that still puts him sixth in the league. Crawford is 11th in strikeouts with 30 tickets punched. While walks are a bit of an issue with a 10% walk rate, he’s left 89.3% of runners on base. Even when he gets into a jam, he trusts his arsenal to help him escape it.

Crawford is also limiting the hard hits with an average exit velocity of 85.8 against him, which is in the 87th percentile. That’s backed up by his hard-hit percentage being in the 85th percentile.

The only criticism and what will hold him back to becoming a full front-line starter is going deep into games. That changed a little with his most recent outing. Alex Cora had come to help him through to get through six innings, nabbing him his second quality start of the season. It gave some trust to Crawford, as Cora felt he needed to help the team that’s been depleted by injuries and could use a boost.

New Red Sox Ace Pitching Arsenal

How did Bailey turn Crawford into the new Red Sox ace? It was an adjustment to their pitch mix, like with plenty of the other starters. Last season, Crawford relied on his four-seamer. It’s a good pitch for him, but throwing it 39.2% of the time can give a batter an inkling of what’s coming next.

Instead, his Sweeper usage has increased almost 20% this season. His four-seamer has moved down about 10% less. The slider usage has all but disappeared, having only thrown it twice. The knuckle curve is the second pitch that Bailey and Crawford have dropped to help turn him into an emerging Red Sox ace. It’s down to 5.5% usage, about 6.5% less than 2023. It’s for good reason, as his knuckle curve last year was hit hard with a .340 average and a .642 slugging against it. By dialing down the usage of the slider and the knuckle curve while mixing up the fastballs a bit more, they’ve found a different gear for Crawford with this new mix.

If the pattern continues the Red Sox will likely have developed a new frontline starter that they haven’t done since the days of Jon Lester. There may be some regression, but plenty of optimism for what Crawford is doing so far.

For the team as a whole, it’s clear that the new pitching coach on the block has helped the pitchers across the board. Crawford isn’t the only one with a renewed pitch arsenal that leans heavily on what they’re good at. It’s the entire team. Sometimes, coaching does make a difference, and it has for this iteration of the Red Sox.