What about the guys recovering from injury?
That’s compounded by the fact that David Price appears healthy. While his ERA isn’t supported by his peripherals (his FIP is 2.16 runs higher), he’s gone seven innings in two of his four starts. He did come out of his third start after one inning, but it was due to an odd sensation in his hand and doesn’t seem to be bothering him since that night. He came back for his fourth starts throwing 5 IP while allowing just 1 ER and striking out 6.
He’s going to need to get his walks under control, and his four-seam fastball velocity is down 1.62 mph from last year. That said, his last two Aprils (2015 and 2016) have been his lowest velocity averages of each year, so we won’t know if that’s an indication of anything until mid-May or so.
How about Eduardo Rodriguez?
On the other end of the results, spectrum is Eduardo Rodriguez who has a much higher ERA than his FIP. His 3.72 ERA appears a touch unlucky compared to a 2.59 FIP, and his 13.78 K/9 is downright sexy. His 35.7% strikeout percentage would rank 7th in MLB if he had enough innings to qualify, right in front of Justin Verlander.
And that’s the reason we need to be a bit tempered with our enthusiasm about EdRo so far. He only has two starts, the first of which was less than encouraging. His outing against the Orioles, however, was exactly what you want to see after just 3.2 IP against the Rays in his season debut.
He kept the Buck Showalter Brigade to 1 ER while striking out 8 and walking two over six full innings. Recovering from a lesser known knee surgery, the hard-throwing lefty could be on the verge of his first healthy season in Boston.
While there are certainly some questions about the rotation’s success so far, with more reinforcements coming there is every reason to believe this will be one of the better units in the game this year.