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| (AP Photo) |
Rick Porcello had an awful debut season with the Red Sox. If he is to avoid the fate of being "the other guy" in the
Yoenis Cespedes trade, he
needs to step it up big time in 2016. As
FanGraphs David Laurila suggests, one of the supposed reasons for his 4.92 ERA
was the misplacement and "spin rate" of his over-used four-seam fastball. Plus his "signature" sinker wasn't—well—
sinking. Pretty much every pitch from Porcello was up in the zone—and hitters knew it. So, what does the $82.5 million man have to do to right the ship? Says Porcello,
"I’ve been first and foremost a sinker-heavy pitcher my entire career. That’s where I’ve had a lot of my success, so I’m not going to jump ship on it. But I have a four-seamer with a good spin rate, and I’m going to use it accordingly." Let's hope his pitches are as good as they "seam".
