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Tyler Salk
I’m not ready to call him an ace, and I’m definitely not saying he was worth that massive contract. But for the most part since his return, David Price has been more than just a quality major league starter. I witnessed first hand the mess he delivered during his final rehab start in Pawtucket. He looked awful. The running joke that I made was David Price was two starts away from being ready to play triple a baseball, let alone pitch at the major league level.
In reality, it was easy to understand his struggles. His injury was initially rumored to be season ending, with him undergoing Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow. To be back on the mound in the majors two months later (which 990 personality Ryan Fox can verify I predicted when everyone else said it would be TJ) is an accomplishment of its own. But he was awful that day.
While Price’s numbers do not look quite as disturbing as Ted Cruz’s face, Red Sox Nation was not thrilled with him after last season. With the news of an arm injury, they were only angrier with him. With the signing. They had every right to be. Even though he had an ERA below 4 and was on the American League leaderboard for strikeouts, his WHIP was through the roof. While it still isn’t pretty, his season since his return has actually been pretty good. Sunday marked Price’s tenth start since being activated from the disabled list on May 29th. He has only allowed more than three runs once upon returning, against the Yankees where he gave up six. That was his third game though. He has significantly improved. Bringing his ERA down to 3.39, the former all-star has been almost as good as an episode of Psycho Sports as of late. In each of his past five outings, David has gone at least six innings, while not allowing more than two walks, including zero over eight in his latest matchup against the Bombers. We’ve been spoiled by another pitcher lately, but Price has also been striking out quite a few batters. I’m not saying he is the ace of this staff. Chris Sale’s stat lines amaze me every time that I look at them. They don’t need Price to be an ace (for the money they should still expect him to be, but that’s not the point). They just need him to be a reliable piece to the rotation if they plan on making a deep run into the playoffs. If he can continue to pitch the way he has been, that very well could happen. |
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