The Red Sox have a plan this winter, and its like something out of the limbo dance: How low can you go?
Virtually every move the team has made so far this offseason shares one trait, and its not something youd find on the back of a baseball card.
With research revealing that the strike zone has dropped by the diameter of a baseball over the last few years, the Red Sox have targeted pitchers and hitters who can control that area of the plate, and it will be fascinating to see if their gambit pays off this season.
Third baseman Pablo Sandoval, signed to a five-year, $95 million deal, is one of the best lowball hitters in the game, batting .321 lifetime on pitches at or below the knees.
Slugger Hanley Ramirez, meanwhile, may not be Sandovals equal in that regard, but hes a lifetime .346 hitter in the lower third of the zone, and a lifetime .283 hitter on pitches at or below the knees.
Then theres the pitching side of the equation. Left-hander Wade Miley and right-handers Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson may not strike out a ton of batters (Masterson is the best of the bunch at 7.5 Ks per 9 IP), but each rates above average in groundball/flyball ratio, with Masterson (1.33) one of the most extreme examples in the game. Both Porcello (1.12) and Miley (0.96) easily top the league average (roughly 0.80) as well.
The Red Sox downplay the notion that theyre trying to reinvent the wheel There are different ways to pitch, and not a certain type of pitcher were looking for, general manager Ben Cherington said recently but its clear they believe theyre on to something. And theyre not alone.
Consider the responses last month at the GM Meetings when executives were asked if theyd consider targeting hitters who controlled the bottom of the zone.
White Sox GM Rick Hahn smiled broadly. Im not sharing anything about that, he said. Its a good question.
Indians GM Chris Antonetti changed the subject. Im going to stay away from that level of detail, he said. Id prefer to keep things on the macro level.
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