Red Sox Announce Starting Rotation: Who Made The Cut, What To Make Of It

Here we sit, five days away from Opening Day for the Boston Red Sox. On Thursday, manager Alex Cora announced the starting rotation for the 2023 season in front of a room full of reporters.

There were some that surprised, but there were also some that didn’t. What Cora didn’t announce (or it wasn’t reported publicly) was the order that they would pitch, but at least now it’s known who will be starting games.

Garrett Whitlock, Brayan Bello, and James Paxton will all start games at some point throughout the season, but will start the season on the IL. Paxton, reportedly, will not be back until May, but the other two should be back in early April.

Here’s who Cora announced as starters, and what to make of it.

Corey Kluber, RHP

2022 Stats (31 Games, All Starts)
W-L: 10-10
ERA: 4.34
164 IP
139 SO
21 BB (0 Intentional)

Kluber is the only one we know where he is positioned, and he is poised to be the ace of the staff, he is at least in terms of the fact that Cora announced he is starting on Opening Day, March 31st vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

Kluber has a history of starting on Opening Day, when he started the season on the hill for four consecutive years from 2015-2019. Considering the fact that majority of pitchers on the prospective staff are coming off either an up-and-down season, are in-experienced, or are coming off injury-shortened seasons, he seemed like the logical.

Going into his age 37, he is one of the older pitchers to start on Opening Day. In fact, he is only second to John Smoltz started for the Atlanta Braves at age 40 during the 2007 season. This may be a cause for concern on the surface, but given his experience on the first day of the season, Kluber gives the Red Sox the best shot to win.

Analysis: Kluber may be on the older end age-wise, but his experience will bode well going into the season. The fact that he had a 139-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio speaks for itself. In addition to the fact that he ate up 164 innings in 31 starts, that means he averaged just over 5.1 innings per start.

With the bullpen, Boston has set up, if he goes at least through the sixth inning, and the Red Sox get the run support they need, they should be in good shape on Opening Day. He won’t give them a day off, especially that early in the season, but don’t expect anyone to give the bullpen a day off until at least a month into the season.

Chris Sale, LHP
2022 Stats (Two Games, Both Starts)
W-L: 0-1
ERA: 3.18
5.2 IP
5 SO
1 BB (0 Intentional)

Much like the aforementioned Kluber, Sale has a history of starting on Opening Day – both with the Red Sox, and during his tenure with the Chicago White Sox. His numbers in the past, including multiple Cy Young-caliber seasons indicate that he very well could be a candidate to start on the season-opener.

However, given his injury-plagued time so far with Boston, and the fact that he is coming into 2023 without even making it to five starts in 2022 due to injury, he was not a logical choice to start the season opener.

Much like Kluber, Sale is into his 30s. In fact, he turns 34 the day before the season kicks off. Unfortunately, Sale has had his fair share of injuries in recent seasons. In fact, his best season since coming to the Red Sox was his first, way back in 2017 when he won 17 games, and set a personal best with 308 strikeouts.

Analysis: Sale has only thrown 48.1 innings over the last two seasons due to various injuries, but given his track record as a top of the line starter, he’s a good “1A” for Boston at the top of the rotation.

Also like Kluber, Sale has a history of eating innings, and striking players out. Both pitchers don’t have to rely on exclusively on their fastball- Kluber with his sinker, and Sale with his slider – which gives them some versatility in their approach. Look for this duo to become a very effective one-two punch as the season goes on.

Tanner Houck, RHP
2022 Stats (32 Games, 4 Starts)
W-L: 5-4
ERA: 3.15
60 IP
56 SO
22 BB

This is the one that may come as a surprise to many, but not too many. Houck has had a rough go of it, both this spring, and in 2022. In both seasons, he was able to limit the walks to the low 20s cumulatively, but throughout Spring Training, he has struggled to get going.

As of this date he has collected an 8.31 ERA, allowing 22 hits – six of them being home runs. All of this coming in 17.1 innings of work. In three years in the big leagues, Houck has a record of 9-9 in 53 games (20 starts), 146 innings, along with 164 strikeouts, and only 52 walks.

In most cases, the numbers don’t lie. With Houck, unfortunately, the numbers do. He hasn’t been able to hold leads consistently. Hopefully it’s Spring Training jitters, but if he looks shaky to start the season, don’t be surprised if he moves to thee bullpen.

Analysis: If you’re in the middle of a series, and you see Sale first and then Houck next you could be confused, as they have near-identical motions. Not to mention, both throw sweeping sliders that confuse hitters on both sides of the plate.

Cora is throwing Houck a bone, giving him a shot in the rotation, but look for him to be on a short leash. If he starts on the struggling early on, look for Cora to go in another direction – whether that be calling Brayan Mata or Chris Murphy up from Triple A, or elevating someone from further back in the rotation.

Kutter Crawford
2022 Stats (21 Games, 12 Starts)
W-L: 3-6
ERA: 5.47
77.1 IP
77 SO
29 BB (1 Intentional)

Now, Crawford was the real surprise out of this group. Going into the offseason, you would have thought he’d be a fixture in the bullpen after averaging right around a strikeout per inning. Not to mention, he was looked at as a reliable arm in both high-leverage, and long relief situations.

While the record may not show it, he was very good at stopping the bleeding when they needed it, or other relievers needed time off. He may not be the innings eater that Kluber and Sale are, but he’ll give the bullpen a chance to get some work in, if Houck doesn’t get to it first.

Crawford doesn’t have a standout pitch like the first three do, but if he can keep his pitch count low, the pitching staff should be in good shape.

Analysis: Putting Crawford in the starting rotation is like Kramer at the Oscars – he’s a placeholder, but he’s going to try his damnedest to stay put in his seat, and not give up. Someday, though, he’s going to have to come the realization that he (or Houck) is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

One of those two should be the first to go when either one of either Paxton, Whitlock, or Bello get healthy again, with the most likely one being Paxton. Whitlock is a close second, however, as they are both very effective late in games, and not as much starting games.

Nick Pivetta, RHP
2022 Stats: 33 Games (All Starts)
W-L: 10-12
ERA: 4.56
179.2 IP
175 SO
73 BB (0 Intentional)

Looking at where Pivetta is positioned, you have to ask yourself: why wasn’t he mentioned earlier? He was an absolute beast for the Red Sox in 2022. He tied the league-lead for starts, and he had the only complete game on the entire Boston staff during the previous season.

After missing part of Spring Training due to an illness, he has come back with a vengeance – collecting a 1.97 WHIP in 11.2 innings. Look for his numbers to improve as his experience this season

Pivetta is probably the one in the rotation with the longest leash in the rotation outside of Kluber, yes longer than Sale. Sale is coming off too many injuries to be fully counted on, but watch for Pivetta to give him a run for his money.

Analysis: Look, Pivetta would have been the ace of this staff if it wasn’t for the signing of Kluber, but that all changed when he decided to come home, and play for the team he lives 45 minutes from.

Watch for Pivetta to, not only be a solid piece of the rotation, but also act as an anchor at the back end before it transitions back to the front with Kluber.

Overall Analysis

The Red Sox may not have the most experienced rotation in the world, but they definitely have the most determined rotation coming into the 2023 season. Throughout the entire season in 2022 there were questions throughout the entire pitching staff, except for maybe a few pieces.

This year, while it may look different with departures of staples like Nathan Eovaldi to the Texas Rangers, Michael Wacha to the San Diego Padres, and Rich Hill to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston has one thing the 2022 squad did not have: a clear-cut #1 starter.

How it will work out for them remains to be seen, but now we wait for Opening Day: T-Minus 5 days!