The Red Sox starter is giving up home runs at an alarming rate.
Welcome back to another edition of The Anatomy of An Inning. My name is Jacob Roy, and I pretend to know pitching better than the pitchers themselves. If you’re new here or need a reminder of what this is all about, I take an inning from the previous week or so and break it down, one pitch at a time. Each pitch should have a purpose, so I’m looking at each pitch individually to try to go beyond the box score and tell the full story.
Kutter Crawford is in the middle of a slump. Every time you look up, the ball is leaving the yard. There’s no two ways around it: It’s a problem. Outside of the home runs though, there are deeper issues at play. While Crawford is getting ahead of hitters and into two-strike counts, he’s not putting them away. Let’s look at Crawford’s outing against the Royals to see what’s going on.
Bottom 1st – Bobby Witt Jr.
There’s no good way to pitch to Bobby Witt Jr. He’s an MVP candidate for a reason. Witt is typically patient early in counts, and while he will expand the strike zone, he can punish just about any pitch.
Crawford starts Witt with a fastball. It’s way too high, but at least it’s not where Witt can hit it.
He follows it up with a cutter at 87 MPH. Ideally, this ball would be down against a righty, but this still works as it’s on the glove side. Witt put a good swing on it, as evidenced by the foul ball straight back, so I’d avoid doubling up on the cutter.
First of all, Kansas City needs a better camera angle. This perspective virtually eliminates any horizontal movement. Second, this is a pretty good pitch. It’s low and away with good horizontal movement. Witt is a little bit out in front, yet muscles it out of the park. While home runs are never good, this isn’t one to get worked up over. You made a good pitch, he hit it out. Tip your cap and move on.
Bottom 2nd – MJ Melendez
Let’s jump ahead to the second inning. Red Sox killer MJ Melendez leads off the inning for Kansas City. Melendez is a free swinger who doesn’t take many walks and is no stranger to striking out. He really struggles against breaking balls and has issues with pitches up in the zone. In his previous outing against the Royals, Crawford took a fastball-heavy approach, retiring him twice in three meetings.
He starts the inning with a curveball below the zone. Good idea, gotta get it over though.
Fastball, 2-0. Behind in the count, I’d like to see Crawford work inside to try to generate some weak contact.
Cutter, outside for strike one. With Melendez likely looking for something inside, Crawford could continue to work away from him or try to get a cutter in on his hands.
Crawford tries to get the cutter inside but it’s too high. At 3-1, he should throw whatever he feels he can get for a strike to avoid a leadoff walk.
Nicely located high fastball that Melendez swings through. I’d double up for the punchout.
He tries it, but it’s too high. You can’t be handing out leadoff walks.
Freddy Fermin
Crawford begins the at-bat with a cutter and Fermin is way out in front. It’s clear he was looking for a fastball, so I’d continue with the breaking pitches.
At 0-1, it’s the same pitch that Bobby Witt hit over the fence. Fortunately, Freddy Fermin isn’t Bobby Witt and pops out for the first out.
Maikel Garcia
Garcia cannot lay off pitches down and away. He should get nothing but cutters and sweepers away from him until he proves he can remain disciplined.
Excellent start. It’s a sweeper on the outside edge for called strike one. Go back out there.
Cutter, down and away for strike two. I’d go back to the sweeper, but he could throw another cutter as well. If he wanted to be cheeky, he could try to dot the bottom corner with a fastball, although there isn’t a good reason to give Garcia something hittable at 0-2.
They elect for the high fastball, but Garcia doesn’t bite. Don’t get too cute, throw a breaking ball away.
Beautiful. When a hitter shows you he can’t resist a pitch, don’t give him an easy way out.
Kyle Isbel
Crawford again misses with a curveball to start the at-bat. It’s close but Jansen can’t frame it from his traditional catcher stance. That’s the price you pay for being in an athletic stance.
He yanks a cutter. 2-0. It’s Kyle Isbel. Go get him.
Misses again with a cutter.
Fastball, Isbel is taking all the way for 3-1. I’d continue with the four-seam, as it’s the only thing he’s located so far this at-bat.
Too high, ball four. Ugly.
Michael Massey
In his first plate appearance, Massey struck out on a combination of high fastballs and low splitters.
There it is. First pitch curveball in the zone for strike one. Those first-pitch strikes are so valuable, and being able to throw a breaking ball in the zone is a great way to secure them.
High fastball, fouled off for strike two. It’s 0-2, throw something outside of the zone (preferably down), and end the inning.
He goes with the sweeper, and it’s not tempting enough. Following the uncompetitive sweeper, I’d go back to the high fastball that Massey hasn’t been able to hand thus far.
Brutal. Crawford throws the splitter, but Massey is sitting soft and the pitch catches too much of the plate. He’s a little unfortunate that Refsnyder doesn’t play the ball cleanly, allowing a run to score, but he only has himself to blame for leaving something up.
Bobby Witt Jr.
Runners on the corners and two outs. Witt just watched Crawford fail to locate his slider to Kyle Isbel, and then avoid the pitch entirely against Michael Massey. He’s probably looking for an early four-seamer.
He gets that four-seamer and fouls it straight back. Any lower, and this pitch is probably crushed. That’s why command is important.
The cutter drifts up in the zone again, but it’s on the outside edge and Witt gets it off the end of the bat. Rafaela runs it down and gets Crawford out of the jam.
All in all, the second inning was less about the Royals beating Crawford and more about Crawford beating himself. He issued walks to Melendez and Isbel, the latter of which being entirely uncompetitive. He left a pitch over the plate to Michael Massey with two strikes, leading to an RBI single. Crawford has the stuff to be successful. Go watch the at-bat against Maikel Garcia again, Garcia never has a chance. Still, he needs to be more consistent, particularly with two strikes.
Hungry for more? Here’s one more hitter.
Bottom 4th – MJ Melendez
We already watched Melendez’s last at-bat, a walk where Crawford couldn’t find the strike zone and had to pitch from behind.
Curveball, called strike. Love it.
Here’s a splitter that Melendez can’t resist for strike two. At 0-2, he can throw virtually whatever he wants, as long as it isn’t good to hit. I’d recommend a high fastball.
It’s a fastball and it catches more of the zone it should, but Melendez can only foul it off. I’d throw another, but higher.
Inside. Following the two fastball misses, it makes sense to go to something else. To this point, Crawford had only thrown six splitters, making it an excellent surprise two-strike pitch here. He could also throw a cutter or sweeper on the inner half.
Another fastball, and another uncompetitive one.
Sweeper. Not close. Full count.
Fastball, this time in a better spot, but once again fouled off.
Here’s a curveball, but Melendez fights this one off as well. He’s managed to foul off both a high fastball and a low curveball with very different velocities. At this point, his best bet may be to throw a splitter away and hope to get Melendez to expand the zone.
Fastball down the middle, fouled off. Something tells me Melendez is comfortable with the fastball.
It’s not gonna work, Kutter. Throw something else.
This is tough. He hits his spot perfectly with the backdoor cutter and doesn’t get the call. While I’m not a fan of big movement backdoor pitches, his cutter is tight and hard enough that it can work. He should have the first out of an inning but instead hands out a free pass. Again though, Crawford had the hitter 0-2, and couldn’t execute a pitch to put Melendez away.
When you watch Kutter Crawford, try to focus on the catcher to see if Crawford is hitting his spots. When he mixes his pitches and hits his spot, he’s incredibly difficult to square up. When he doesn’t have a feel for his breaking balls, hitters can keep their sights in the zone and tee off.
Author’s note: On Tuesday night, Crawford retired the first 16 hitters he faced. He kept hitters off balance by changing speeds and using all of his pitches. I planned on having an inning from that game, but the video source hasn’t updated yet. Keep an eye out for part two on Kutter Crawford coming soon.