Plus, Hunter Dobbins!
Richard Fitts started on Monday night for the Red Sox. If you tuned into the game late, you probably missed it because he was only on the mound for about 15 minutes. His final line reads one inning, four hits, six runs (five earned), no strikeouts, and one walk. If I had to choose one word to describe his outing, I’d choose “bad”.
There’s no two ways around it, Fitts was bad on Tuesday night. At the same time, it’s not time to panic. Fitts looked like a pitcher on a rehab assignment, which is effectively what he is right now. He’s made two starts since returning from the IL, but wasn’t scheduled to rejoin the roster until a doubleheader messed with the schedule.
Oftentimes, on a rehab assignment, especially after a minor injury, a pitcher’s stuff will look good, while command may be more of an issue. That’s what Richard Fitts dealt with in his one inning last night. His fastball averaged 95.6 MPH, which is right where it should be. His breaking ball shapes were materially the same as they had been. The issue for Fitts was purely one of command. He jumped ahead of the leadoff hitter 0-2 before hanging a slider that was hit out of the park. He walked the next hitter as he failed to steer his fastball, and gave up a jam shot single on a nicely located sinker to Taylor Ward. He even induced a double play ball that resulted in zero outs thanks to the infield defense.
Despite a lack of fastball command, Fitts continued to throw it. He threw one directly down the middle to Mike Trout that Trout hit to Woburn. He also threw one directly down the middle to Jo Adell, which probably landed in Medford. To me, Fitts looked like a pitcher working his way back from an injury, who threw too many pitches and lost his legs. Don’t worry about Richard Fitts, he just needs a little bit of time.
[Editor’s note: ignore jake. worry!]
[Writer’s subsequent note: ignore Bryan, he’s a curmudgeon!]
Hunter Dobbins followed Fitts as the long reliever, although it may as well have been a start for Dobbins. He navigated five innings and allowed just one run to cross the plate: a home run by Jorge Soler. Despite Dobbins’ success tonight, I still can’t fully buy in.
Against a righty-heavy lineup, he primarily used his fastball and slider. He kept the fastball up well, leading to three whiffs on 22 pitches. Dobbins’ fastball is hard, with adequate extension, but the shape isn’t enough of an outlier to dominate in the zone. It’s not a bad pitch, but it’s not the foundation for a frontline starter.
His slider is his breaking ball of choice against righties and has been good, but I think Dobbins needs a third pitch to use as a strike-getter. With a two-pitch mix, it’s hard to throw the slider in the zone as much as he did tonight. Look at this pitch plot from the 5th inning tonight.
Three of those sliders were in 0-0 counts, two of which got swings, and one of which was hit over 100 MPH. That one was an out, but this isn’t sustainable. Going into the sixth inning, 10 of the 15 hitters Dobbins had faced saw first pitch sliders. Jo Adell was the 16th hitter, saw a first pitch slider, and put it over the monster. With a two-pitch mix, throwing a “get me over” slider in an 0-0 count is risky, because there’s close to a 50% chance the hitter is sitting slider. Dobbins did a great job tonight, I just feel he could benefit by expanding his mix. At the very least, he’ll need to locate more to the edges if it’s just the two pitches. I’m not giving up on Dobbins, but I’m not ready to annoint him as a future ace either.