See why Cooper Criswell is an important part of the Red Sox pitching staff.
Welcome back to another edition of The Anatomy of An Inning. My name is Jacob Roy, and I pretend to know pitching better than the pitchers themselves. If you’re new here or need a reminder of what this is all about, I take an inning from the previous week or so and break it down, one pitch at a time. Each pitch should have a purpose, I’m looking at each individually to try to go beyond the box score and tell the full story.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Red Sox rotation has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2024 season. Despite the injuries to Garrett Whitlock, Nick Pivetta, and Brayan Bello, Red Sox starters rank near the top of every statistical category. Those injuries opened the door for Cooper Criswell. Criswell, despite being low-hanging fruit for every sports radio talking head to poke fun at, has provided quality innings through the early part of the season (1.74 ERA in 20.2 innings). So, how’s he doing it? Can it continue, or was it just two weeks of good luck?
The Situation
Sunday, May 5th. After a bullpen day in which the Red Sox used five different pitchers, the team handed the ball to Criswell to start the game against the Minnesota Twins. He’s taking the mound for his third inning of work as the top of the Twins’ lineup comes up for the second time.
AB #1: Alex Kirilloff
In his first at-bat, Kirilloff lined a cutter on the inner half straight to center field for an out. Between the hard-hit cutter in the first at-bat and Kirilloff’s overall success against fastballs, Criswell should be careful on the inner half of the plate with his (not-so-fast) fastballs.
Criswell starts Kiriloff out with a sinker and it’s fouled away. If I had to guess, the hitter is looking for the same cutter he hit so well in the first at-bat, and misses this one as the ball breaks away from him. The first pitch should tell Criswell that Kiriloff feels he has a good chance of doing damage against his cutter and be careful with it for the rest of the at-bat.
So, what does Criswell do? He gives him a cutter middle-middle. Here’s a great example of the cat-and-mouse game that is a major league at-bat. McGuire sets up with his target up and in. If Criswell were to hit that spot, the only way Kirilloff would be able to make good contact and keep the ball fair would be to sell out for it. At 0-1, after hitting a cutter hard in his first at-bat, Criswell may be guessing that Kirilloff won’t be sitting on that pitch. If he executes and gets the ball to his spot, the likely outcomes are either a foul ball, a called strike, or weak contact to get a quick out.
That’s all well and good in theory, but he leaves this one over the middle and is fortunate that it’s only fouled off. At 0-2, I’m sticking to the soft stuff for at least a pitch or two.
Criswell tries to elevate a cutter, but Kirilloff isn’t interested. 1-2.
At 1-2, Criswell tries to freeze the hitter with a backdoor sweeper. I’m not a huge fan of these backdoor sweepers because they require such a pristine location. Criswell’s sweeper has such a huge movement profile, making it very hard to command so precisely. It also requires the hitter to give up on the pitch, an unlikely outcome in two-strike counts. Also, it never works. Seriously, look at this:
These are the arm-side sweepers Criswell has thrown to lefties this season. The pitch starts so far off the plate that hitters either leave it entirely or fight it off if it does make its way back to the edge. A hitter who sees this out of the hand doesn’t have to think about driving the ball, only about fouling it off or flipping it the other way if it does come back. With three called strikes in 22 pitches, I’d keep this one on the shelf.
Anywho, we have an at-bat to talk about. Here’s a 2-2 cutter that gets way in on Kirilloff and gets a foul ball. Following that swing, the inside edge of the plate is the place to watch. Criswell could either throw another cutter to try to jam Kirilloff or start a sinker in the same area, freezing the hitter who may see it as another cutter. It could also be a changeup away, but he couldn’t get Kirilloff to bite on a changeup out of the zone in his first at-bat, so Criswell may have taken that one out of the game plan this time.
Wow, Jake, you’re so smart. Thank you, anonymous reader. It’s a perfect spot as Kirilloff is expecting something coming towards him but instead gets a sinker that breaks back into the zone, freezes the hitter, and reduces him to nothing more than a pair of shoes.
AB #2: Edouard Julien
The first pitch is a sweeper over the middle of the plate for strike one. This works because most hitters are looking for a fastball to drive on the first pitch. In most cases, they’re willing to let anything else go, resulting in a free strike when pitchers get the breaking ball over the plate. Nick Pollack of PitcherList calls it free real estate; if they’re going to give it to you for free, why would you say no?
At 0-1, Criswell tries to throw the cutter up and in again. Much like the second pitch to Kirilloff, he doesn’t hit his spot and leaves it over the plate, but Julien lets it go for strike two. Again, I like the idea of trying to take advantage of a hitter’s aggression in an 0-1 count by giving them a pitch that’s hard to square up, but the pitch needs to find that spot, or else it can be punished.
He goes back to it, but this one is too high. After missing back-to-back attempts at the glove-side cutter, I’d go to the changeup down and arm-side.
Ah yes, the backdoor sweeper with a 3% success rate. Stop this. Seriously.
Much better. You couldn’t have done this one pitcher earlier? He starts the pitch down the middle, and it runs away from Julien who’s timed up for the cutter and punches out on an early swing. Nice pitch.
AB #3: Ryan Jeffers
Criswell starts the at-bat by throwing a sinker for a called strike. It’s supposed to be inside to jam Jeffers, but starts far enough away that Jeffers isn’t interested. At 0-1, a sinker on the hands could be used similarly to a cutter inside to lefties. Criswell could also go with his sweeper to try to induce a whiff.
It is the sweeper, but Jeffers isn’t interested. I’d go back to the sinker after Jeffers read the sweeper so well.
It is the sinker, but Criswell yanks it again and Jeffers fouls it off. Criswell is in an interesting spot now because he’s failed to locate the sinker twice now, and Jeffers spat on a sweeper in a decent spot. I would go back to the sweeper. If he doesn’t swing, you can break the trend by doubling up on it, and if he does, you likely have your third out.
Well. That went poorly. It’s labeled a sinker on the broadcast, but it’s actually a changeup (85 MPH) from Criswell, and I hate this call. It’s too high risk in my opinion. For the pitch to be effective it needs to be either really far inside, or backdoor. I wouldn’t expect the right-on-right changeup to disappear from Criswell’s gameplans given that Andrew Bailey let Logan Webb throw his changeup to anyone and everyone, although Webb tends to keep his to the glove side.
AB #4: Max Kepler
The first time up, Kepler was fooled by a changeup but managed to get the end of the bat on it for an infield single. Before the base hit, he fouled off several pitches, however, none were particularly hard hit. I wouldn’t rule any pitches out of the game plan based on Kepler’s first at-bat, though it’s worth noting Kepler likes to pull the ball, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Criswell stay on the outer half of the plate.
Criswell starts the at-bat by going to the changeup away from Kepler. It runs a little too far outside for ball one. At 1-0, I’d look for the cutter up and in again.
Good pitch. It’s another backdoor sweeper, but that’s okay in a 1-0 count. Ahead in the count, most hitters will let this one go, resulting in the “free real estate” strike. A changeup away here would play nicely off the sweeper.
It is the changeup, and it’s a pretty good one. Kepler hits it well but doesn’t get quite enough on it to get out of the park and Duran secures it for the final out.
The final pitch in the inning serves as a good illustration of who Criswell is. It’s left up slightly, and it’s almost out of the park. Without overpowering stuff, he has to rely on command to get outs. If he can’t hit his spots, which will likely happen at some point (see AB #3), he’s going to be punished. Thus far, he’s hit his spots, mixed his pitches well, and filled a spot in the rotation admirably.
When reinforcements to the rotation arrive in the coming weeks, Criswell may find himself in Worcester awaiting his next opportunity. When that time comes, and it will, I’ll feel more than comfortable with Criswell on the mound. He’s a five-and-dive guy, and that’s likely his peak, but that’s more than okay from the million-dollar man.