Red Sox’ Andrew Bailey wants is pitching staff ‘to be viewed in the upper echelon of the league’
When the Red Sox hired new pitching coach Andrew Bailey, he stressed that his focus was for his pitching staff to throw strikes.
“Strikes are everything,” said Bailey at his introductory Zoom meeting with reporters. “Stuff in (the) zone plays. Limiting walks. Being aggressive and ahead in counts. Obviously, there’s been a been a big change in stuff and swing-and-miss and (velocity) and all that. There’s a handful of things, but identifying the the KPIs (key performance indicators) that we can hold our ourselves accountable (to) is really a priority. And making sure that each player knows himself best.
“‘What makes you an outlier? What makes you a big leaguer?’ There’s generally one or two specific things that you can point to and making sure there’s an education piece around this as well. And doubling down on strengths and making sure guys know what makes them major leaguers (who) hopefully (have) the ability to play for a long time.”
Fast-forward to Red Sox Winter Weekend, Bailey continues to talk about how he wants his pitchers to attack the strike zone with their best pitches and better utilize their arsenal.
Bailey believes the collection of pitchers from Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Josh Winckowski as all being capable of success as a starter in the league.
That’s where Bailey comes into to play next season and beyond, to better teach his pitchers and get the most out of their talents.
“If our industry doesn’t view our pitching staff individually at higher tiers [by the end of 2024 than entering the year], I just didn’t do my job,” Bailey said. “I think that there’s talent in our rotation, opportunity. Helping them understand who they are and giving them identities and creating some accountability is going to be our name of the game. I’m totally happy. I’m excited about this group.”
Giolito has a history of durability and throwing strikes, Bailey will have to work with the righty on limiting the long ball. The new Sox’ hurler surrendered 41 home runs in 2023, the most in the American League.
Giolito struggled last season, especially in the second half of the season. The California native went 3-11 with a 6.07 ERA while allowing 2.4 homers per nine innings after the break.
Bello is aiming to be the club’s starter on Opening Day in Seattle. The righty pitched like an ace at times in 2023, he posted a 12-11 record with a 4.24 ERA in 28 starts. He will need to impress Alex Cora in spring training if he gives the young hurler the opportunity to pitch on Opening Day.
The 24-year-old has spent time working on developing a slider he can incorporate into his pitching arsenal in 2024. “At this point, I feel comfortable with the command of the slider,” Bello said to reporters at Winter Weekend. “So we’ll see in Spring Training.”
His slider wasn’t overly effective at the start of last season, but it became a bigger part of his pitch mix down the stretch last year.
Pivetta should be a lock for the rotation after emerging as a mid-rotation starter last year. The righty added a sweeper during the middle of last year, which allowed him to be an effective pitcher over the final three months of the season.
Between the trio, Breslow is confident in the group the club has and will look to push his pitchers to the next level.
“I want to be viewed in the upper echelon of the league as a pitching staff,” Bailey said. “I would also say that they weren’t too far off [from that] last year. There’s a lot of talent here already. You can set guys up in certain ways to succeed. [I’m] expecting the staff to take steps forward.”
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