In Corey Kluber, the Red Sox are strike throwers, if not more

To call the end of Corey Kluber’s 2022 season unceremoniously would be putting it mildly.

As the Guardians and Rays traded deep zeros in the extra innings of Game 2 of their AL wildcard series, both relievers were running out. Originally slated as a strong candidate to start Game 3, Kluber was spurred into action in the 13th inning of Game 2, coming into relief for the first time since 2013. He blocked a runner in the 13th and sat out Cleveland 2-3-4. batters in order in the 14th.

Then, to start the 15th, Kluber hooked a 1-0 slider to Guardians rookie outfielder Oscar Gonzalez:

Game over. Season. The same Cleveland fans who had cheered him on so lovingly in his prime were going mad at his downfall. It was nothing personal, of course – just a cruel and unusual scenario in which their team advanced at the expense of their former hero. Baseball will sometimes.

Less than three months after leaving the mound at Progressive Field in defeat, Kluber signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Red Sox. That makes a lot of sense for a Boston team looking to bolster its rotation, a team that had significant interest in the veteran right-hander the past two offseasons. It’s also a nice landing spot for Kluber, who has raised his family in nearby Winchester since 2016. As he nears his late thirties, what can Red Sox fans expect from the accomplished right-hander?

From 2014 to 2018, only one pitcher (Max Scherzer) made more regular season starts than Kluber’s 160. From 2019 to 2021, 184 pitchers have made more regular season starts than Kluber’s 24. last year with Cleveland in 2019, then shoulder issues limited him to just one outing with Texas in 2020 and 16 starts with the Yankees in 2021.

It was this troubling trend that prompted the Rays to award Kluber such an incentive-rich contract coming into 2022 — a one-year, $8 million deal with up to $5 million in incentives based on multiple early game thresholds, demonstrating a strong belief in Kluber. talent, if he was able to stay on the pitch.

Kluber responded accordingly, making 31 starts and not spending a day on the IL. His healthy 2022 was a refreshing reminder of the enduring workhorse he once was, as we could once again count on seeing Kluber take the mound every five days. However, a return to sustainability has not exactly been accompanied by a return to dominance. His 4.34 ERA was 16% below the park-adjusted league average, and he struck out 7.6 batters in nine innings, a career low and well off the 11.7 mark from his peak. of 2017. Although he was never a full-fledged flamethrower and his average fastball speed began to decline even before the injuries, his heater now sits at around 89 mph, the third slowest among qualified starting pitchers.

The Kluber we see now — the one who turned 37 in April — is dramatically different from the one who took up residence atop the AL Cy Young ballots in his heyday. The superhuman story of Justin Verlander pushing the ’90s heat into his 40s has clouded our perception of what’s a much more normal transition for pitchers like Kluber as they get older. As fun as it is to see players like Verlander continue to dominate with the same type of arsenal he had in his twenties, it can also be fascinating to see the Klubers, Johnny Cuetos, Zack Greinkes or Adam Wainwrights of the league find a new way to get pasta out.

Strikeout totals may never get back to where they were for Kluber, but the most heartening part of his 2022 has been rediscovering his elite ability to dodge free passes. Although he showed flashes of excellence during his injury-abbreviated year with the Yankees in 2021 — including a no-hitter, of course — his command barely resembled that of a pitcher who had led the league in steps per nine innings (BB/9) in 2017–18. In 2022, however, Kluber again posted a league record – et career best — 3% walk rate, with just 21 bases on balls allowed over 164 innings. That number gets even more impressive when you realize that Kluber walked four batters in his first start of the year on April 10, but never walked more than two again (which he only did two times) in one of his 30 starts for the remainder of the season.

In addition to limiting free bases, Kluber also prompted opposing hitters to swing a career-high 38.8% of the pitches he threw out of the strike zone, which was also third best among beginners behind splitter specialist Kevin Gausman and All-Star Tyler Anderson. Kluber’s 29.7% Called Strike Plus Smell Percentage (CSW%) was tied with Kyle Wright for 12th among qualified starting pitchersa much better rating than you would expect if you just looked at strikeouts and ERA.

Strikeouts will always be sexier, but this new take on Kluber paints a picture of a pro pitcher in every way, constantly developing nifty new streaks to keep hitters off the hook. His limited raw stuff might get hit much harder and more often than before, but that doesn’t mean Kluber still can’t deliver quality starts with consistency.

He may not offer the same upside as some other free-agent starters that were available, but Kluber offers a degree of certainty that this Red Sox rotation desperately needs. With 69 combined starts between Michael Wacha, Rich Hill and Nathan Eovaldi out the door via free agency, the only returning starter with a significant workload in 2022 is Nick Pivetta. Before Kluber, Boston was preparing to rely on Chris Sale and James Paxton, who have combined for 70 innings pitched in the past. three seasonsnot to mention younger arms like Garrett Whitlock and Brayan Bello, who haven’t spent a full season in the rotating league.

As the role of the starting pitcher in MLB has evolved rapidly over the past decade, it’s not just inning totals that have dropped dramatically due to teams’ reluctance to let starting pitchers go any further in the game. the games. Starters have also become much less durable over the course of a full season, let alone each individual start. Just as the 200-inning starter has become increasingly rare – only eight pitchers have reached the threshold in 2022 – a pitcher making more than 30 starts is also much harder to find. Only 43 different pitchers have made at least 30 starts in 2022, up slightly from 41 in 2021, which was the lowest mark in a 162-game season since 1967.

Kluber, even after three consecutive injury-riddled seasons, was one of 43 to make more than 30 starts in 2022. In recent years, teams targeting Kluber appeared to be chasing the “what if” potential of his rediscovery of the Cy Younger version of himself. By signing Kluber entering 2023, the Red Sox seem to be opting for a different profile instead – one of durability and reliability, which is what many teams are looking for these days, but especially with the composition of Boston’s pitching staff. . If he can deliver 30-plus starts again, he’ll more than likely have fulfilled the workhorse role the Red Sox likely envision him in. And if Kluber’s ace form resurfaces for a while during his 37-year season, that would be gravy.

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Jordan Shusterman is half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He covered baseball throughout his adult life, including MLB.com, DAZN and The Ringer. He’s a Mariners fan who lives in the Eastern time zone, which means he likes a good first pitch at 10 p.m. You can follow him on Twitter @j_shusterman_.