Kansas City Royals Setup Man Wade Davis is having yet another superb year.
Wade Davis: Fastball vs cutter to right-handed batters
Rusney Castillo is solid
Rusney Castillo understandably looked a little rusty at the start of the season, but is looking like an above-average batter and defender now. I wrote about him at Rusney Castillo is Rounding Into Form.
Rusney Castillo batting against various pitch types
Rick Porcello is getting better results
I looked at what’s happened to Rick Porcello’s pitches on his return from the DL (Red Sox Starter Rick Porcello Can Still Be Dominant)
Rick Porcello: Spin direction and pitch speed per game in 2015
Jacke Bradley Junior and the inside fastball
Jackie Bradley Junior has changed his batting mechanics and has started to crush the baseball in locations he couldn’t hit before.
A Jackie Bradley Jr Renaissance
Jackie Bradley Junior hit chart
Joe Kelly and the pitch count
Joe Kelly has had a run of success. Is it partly because he’s becoming less predictable?
Red Sox Pitcher Joe Kelly: Pitch Usage
Joe Kelly: Pitch use vs pitch count
Matt Barnes’ major-league debut
In all, Barnes probably neither hurt nor helped himself with this outing. While he didn’t show himself to be a sure-fire starter, he also had many factors working against him, and showed a number of good points. While his future is more likely to be in the pen than as a starter, he showed signs that he does have a major-league career ahead of him.
—Red Sox Pitcher Matt Barnes Made His First MLB Start
Koji Uehara flashback
Koji Uehara’s season is over with a line-drive comeback that broke his wrist. I went back to his ridiculously dominant 2013 to re-live his strikeout of Prince Fielder in the ALCS Game 3 (Will the Injury to Red Sox Closer Koji Uehara Mean the End of His Dominance?).
Koji Uehara vs. Prince Fielder, Oct. 15/2013 (ALCS Game 3)
Blake Swihart’s debut year so far
Catcher Blake Swihart wasn’t supposed to be in the majors this year; he needed at least one more year, probably two, of minor-league seasoning first. But injuries to the Red Sox catchers meant he was called up anyway, and though he hasn’t blown away the field, he has nothing to apologize for this season. I wrote about him in “How is Rookie Catcher Blake Swihart Doing?”
Blake Swihart: 10-game rolling average OPS
Why doesn’t Joe Kelly dominate?
Joe Kelly, with his 100 mph fastball, looks like he should be an absolutely dominant pitcher, but his actual results this year have been mediocre at best. At sonsofsamhorn.com, I looked at Kelly so far in 2015, focusing on his fastball. I think that
Kelly this year seems to be be trapped by his fastballs. If he throws them as hard as he is capable of, they are less likely to turn into hits, but more likely to become walks. If he slows his fastball down, improving his ability to throw strikes, the pitches become much more hittable.
Joe Kelly fastballs: Balls per 100 pitches, sorted by pitch speed
Henry Owens debut
I took a look at the major-league debut of the Red Sox’ top-50 prospect, Henry Owens, on Aug 4/2015.
Henry Owens strikes out Jacoby Ellsbury on a slider well outside the strike zone