It’s pitching preview time, girls and gents. Over the following a number of days, I’ll be writing 10,000 phrases or so about everybody you would possibly see pitching for the Purple Sox to start out the season. I’ve put the workforce’s beginning choices into tiers as a result of that’s how my mind works. Don’t consider them as rankings, however quite buckets based mostly on some similarities I see.
Yesterday we started with a look at Garrett Crochet, one of the best pitchers in baseball. At the moment we transfer on to..
Tier Two: Been Round The Block
This subsequent tier consists of Ranger Suarez and Sonny Grey, the 2 guys who’re getting paid some huge cash to be within the Purple Sox rotation. Suarez is getting into his eighth season, whereas Grey is getting into his 14th. Whereas labeling guys as “a good two” or “a 3 for a playoff workforce” is a foolish endeavor in my view, these guys will possible begin on the second and third day of the season.
2025 in a sentence: Suarez began the season on the IL, however was rock stable as soon as he bought again on the sector in Could.
Ranger Suarez has been remarkably constant over the previous 4 seasons. He’s averaging 26 begins, 147 innings, and a 3.59 ERA over that span. 2026 will likely be his first season with a workforce not named the Philadelphia Phillies, however you possibly can count on extra of the identical from Suarez.
For Suarez, it’s all about command. He’s going to be actually powerful on lefties and gained’t see a lot of them because of this. He kilos the within a part of the plate with sinkers and four-seamers, earlier than turning to his curveball and slider out of the zone to place hitters away. The curveball is especially efficient at getting hitters to broaden the zone; the chase charge on the pitch during the last three seasons is almost 50%. He’ll additionally combine in his changeup with two strikes, although the Purple Sox have typically averted same-handed changeups. It’s been extremely efficient in small samples, although, so they could enable him to maintain that arrow in his quiver.
On the opposite facet, it’s a way more even combine, with every of his 5 pitches accounting for 15% and 25% of his choices. His sinker nonetheless leads the way in which and will get early strikes, however the contact towards it from righties is best than lefties, whereas his cutter is a dependable strike-getter early in at-bats as properly and avoids onerous contact. A sort of enjoyable, or no less than enjoyable to me, testomony to his command is that solely two non-four-seam pitches generated the next proportion of foul balls than Suarez’s cutter (27.7%). As a result of he doesn’t use the pitch in two-strike counts fairly often, these are virtually completely productive pitches.
Whereas Suarez will throw any pitch in any rely, he turns to his changeup and curveball most frequently as his strikeout pitches towards righties. The changeup is extremely efficient with a two-strike chase charge of 43%. The curveball isn’t as devastating, however he avoids errors with it and may drop it within the zone free of charge strikes. He makes use of the four-seam on the prime of the zone as properly, and it’s outperformed what one would possibly count on given the form over the previous three seasons, with putaway charges over 20% because of impeccable command.
Suarez has his strategy, and when he executes, he’s pretty much as good as anybody. He’s slated to pitch within the World Baseball Traditional for Venezuela, which can give us a great have a look at any tweaks he made to his arsenal over the offseason. It’d be good to see him achieve a tick or two of velocity as properly. He was at about 93 mph simply two years in the past, however a sudden drop has him sitting nearer to 90 mph in the present day. Suarez is your favourite pitcher’s favourite pitcher and has proven the flexibility to outlive with out premium velocity. I’d count on extra of the identical from him in 2026.
2025 in a sentence: Grey’s season line was marred by quite a lot of blow-up outings, however the underlying numbers paint a greater image.
Sonny Grey had 5 video games with six or extra earned runs allowed final season. I hate excluding video games from a line as a result of all of them rely, however I really feel comfy calling {that a} fluke. His 26.7% strikeout charge was among the many finest in baseball, as was his 5% stroll charge.
Grey had reverse splits in 2025, however is roughly platoon-neutral for his profession. He used six completely different pitches in 2025, with important variations towards all sides of the plate. Early in at-bats, righties primarily noticed sinkers and cutters, with occasional curveballs dropped in for known as strikes. With two strikes, he went to his sweeper. Grey known as himself the most effective spinners within the league, and his sweeper helps that. In opposition to righties, practically one in each 4 pitches resulted in a whiff. Additionally they swung at over 50% of the sweepers he threw out of the zone. He pairs it with a backdoor sinker that freezes hitters as they offer up on the pitch, anticipating it to spin off the plate.
In opposition to lefties, Grey used extra four-seam fastballs and curveballs early in counts. Every pitch had a strike charge over 65%, however the very best contact charge towards every was on the excessive facet, although opponents hit the ball on the bottom regularly. A changeup accounted for 15% of his pitches to lefties, primarily early in at-bats, however a 55% strike charge and 43% very best contact charge make it a candidate to get replaced by one thing else. His cutter and sinker every earned strikes at a excessive charge in a small pattern, however have been additionally hit onerous. With two strikes, his sweeper was once more the star, getting whiffs on 26% of pitches, in addition to an enormous chase charge (48.7%). The contact high quality from lefties is considerably of a priority, however his capacity to overlook bats compensates for it.
I discussed blow-up outings, and residential runs have been the perpetrator for a lot of of them. He allowed 25 on the season, although his 22.7% residence run per fly ball charge ought to come down nearer to league common. General, for Grey, I’d count on his splits to flip, with righties having a harder time than lefties, based mostly on his capacity to pitch to the glove facet. RedSoxStats on Twitter identified that during the last two seasons, most of his onerous contact allowed has come to proper heart discipline, the place the Purple Sox have two Gold Glove outfielders stationed on a nightly foundation.
Grey isn’t the flashiest pitcher within the rotation, however he’s a veteran who will combine his pitches, sequence, and compete every time he takes the mound.
