Chris Smith to Take Clay’s Place
The Red Sox swap out a pitcher who has been surprisingly terrible with another who has been surprisingly effective.
Smith, a frequent rider of the “I-95 Express” between Boston and Pawtucket this season, has pitched well in a versatile role for the AAA Pawsox, where he has served as a starter, a long reliever, and (usually) a closer. Smith is known for his breaking stuff and changeup, and has baffled MLB hitters in a very small sample of appearances this season, most notably a 4-inning mop-up appearance back in June.
In that appearance, nearly half of his pitches were curveballs, and 2/3 of them were thrown for strikes. I have a feeling that he’ll be able to get by on a “deception factor” for a while, as he does have some nasty breaking stuff that a hitter might not expect from a 27-year-old rookie.
Were I running the team, he would be 5th on the bullpen depth chart (ahead of Mike Timlin and Manny Delcarmen), but I have a feeling he’ll be the last guy to get the call in a close game.
