Boston Red Sox Joe Kelly still on track to win 2015 Cy Young?
Perhaps starting pitcher Joe Kelly of the Boston Red Sox is placing too much pride or weight into the velocity of his own fastball. The four-seamer has been sitting at 96.4 mph this year, amongst some of the better speeds in the league this season for that pitch. But for Kelly to boldly predict that he is going to win a 2015 Cy Young award as he did during a preseason broadcast to WEEI listeners, it’s now his comments that are attracting more heat than his fastballs.
Maybe Kelly forgot that he has only 22 career wins since becoming a starter back in 2012 or that his ERA jumped from 2.39 with the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals in 2013 to 4.11 in 2014 after a move to the American League East with the Red Sox. It could also be he is unaware of his underwhelming career FIP of 4.08.
I guess Kelly didn’t realize that pitching his home games at Fenway in a league with the designated hitter and within a division that has four ballparks favorable to hitting might also affect his chances of winning this hypothetical Cy Young he spoke of earlier in the year.
Over the last 10 years, the only pitcher on an AL East roster to have won the award was David Price in 2012. Price had the luxury of pitching 13 of his 31 starts at Tropicana Field in Tampa. In Price’s wining year, the Rays’ home park was the third friendliest pitchers environment in the American League after only Safeco Field and Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
It’s not unlikely that Kelly can’t experience a breakthrough season with the Boston Red Sox or elsewhere in his future. He is set to be a free agent after this season. However, Corey Kluber, 29, broke out last year for the Indians and surprised a lot of people when he beat out Felix Hernandez in BBWAA votes for the coveted pitching award. Kelly is only 27 and two years younger than Kluber, but it’s highly unlikely that this will be a Cy Young campaign for the Rex Sox pitcher. It’s not even really a coming out party of any sorts so far, so a breakout year also seems unlikely.
Boston Red Sox
On Saturday versus the Blue Jays, Kelly was picked apart by Toronto’s lineup. He walked seven hitters in only 5.2 innings of work, allowing six earned runs and a home run to Edwin Encarnacion. Kelly is now 1-2 on the season after six starts and has an ERA of 6.35. Shockingly enough, that’s only the second highest mark by a Red Sox starter. Wade Miley currently has a very unattractive 6.91 ERA through six starts.
Not only is Kelly a long shot to win a Cy Young in 2015, it doesn’t appear any Red Sox starter will be in the running this year. Rick Porcello (3-1, 4.38) is the only one in their rotation with more than two wins and an ERA under 5.00. You know things are really bad when the club is firing the pitching coach in May.
While Joe Kelly’s prognostication was bold, brash and reeked of egomaniacal tendencies, perhaps the Boston Red Sox pitcher’s need to focus more on overall team success instead of individual success. The two can be difficult to distinguish or differentiate between in the game of baseball, but Boston currently sits in last place in the AL East and are on the verge of being swept this weekend by the Blue Jays.
Tomorrow, Clay Buchholz (1-4, 6.03) will do his best to prevent being swept by attempting to stifle the Jays and their hot bats in the third game of the series.