The Never Weres

April ended as an overwhelming success for the Red Sox. But now as they head into May it is time to see if this team can compete for a wild card spot. Although it is only the second month of the year I think the Yankees and Orioles have proven that the Red Sox aren’t the same caliber team. Facing the uber-hot Twins the Red Sox showed they may be in that middle group of playoff contenders.

Tanner Houck – home run deterant.

Although Houck took the loss in Friday night’s game in Minnesota he still pitched well. He has now pitched into the sixth inning or beyond in all seven of his starts. His strikeout numbers are good not great.

Normally in today’s baseball you don’t want this. But Tanner Houck is ripping through lineups forcing people to pound the ball into the ground. According to Baseball Savant Houck has a 55% groundball rate. He has given up 1 home run all year. So he may not be missing bats at a crazy rate but alot less damage is done with a groundball compared to a flyball.

Lack of pop in the linuep may be an issue against some pitchers.

Pablo Lopez is one of the better pitchers in all of baseball. So maybe one game against a top pitcher may be an unfair judgment. With the lack of big-name stars, or budding stars like Triston Casas, the Red Sox may struggle against the upper echelon of pitching. So does everyone, right? Not all the time. Teams like Baltimore, Atlanta, the Dodgers, and the Yankees can succeed against these pitchers because of their lineup depth. Add in a rib injury to Rob Refsnyder and the the lineup gets thin quickly. Nothing against Dom Smith or Garrett Cooper but it’s tough to compete when players are introducing themselves while running onto the field.

Give me all the young guys.

This is where the injury to Triston Casas stings. Vaughn Grissom finally made his debut this weekend. He had a 2-run double on Sunday. Ceddanne Rafaella hit a two-run home run. Jarren Duran had two hits and scored two runs. The old man 27-year-old Rafael Devers hit a home run. The core of the Red Sox future is here and they are exciting. I mentioned on the latest ‘Baseball Night’ podcast that I am in on this team and that is because of you players like this.

The Red Sox face old friend Chris Sale in their upcoming series against Atlanta. Which should be an interesting test as they face off against the Braves juggernaut. Then they face off against a surprisinly spunky Nationals team. It will be an important 5-game stretch to see where they stand. Continue to beat bad teams and struggle against good ones? Or come out and prove themselves against the Braves.

Photo from @Marino_Pepen on X