Ranking Red Sox rotation after Nick Pivetta’s complete game
By Eric Treuden
Ranking the Boston Red Sox rotation on the heels of Nick Pivetta’s dominant complete game victory.
Nick Pivetta, 29, made what is perhaps the best start of his major league career May 18th against the Houston Astros, going the distance and allowing one run on just two hits. The lone run surrendered was a first inning home run by Jose Altuve.
On the heels of Pivetta’s incredible performance, we’ll rank the current Red Sox rotation in terms of how reliable they are at this point in time.
Tanner Houck was a part of the rotation for a brief period of time this season, making four starts along the way, but he was recently moved to the bullpen with Michael Wacha set to return from the injured list after missing time with intercostal irritation.
Ranking Boston Red Sox starting rotation
No. 5 – LHP Rich Hill
With his excellent start to the 2022 season, it was very difficult to put Rich Hill at the bottom of this list. The 42-year-old lefty has yet to show any signs of slowing down despite his age, but durability has been something of a question mark for him over the years.
Hill, a veteran of 18 seasons in the big leagues (with five of them coming in Boston) topped 30 starts last season for just the second time in his career last year. While he made 20+ starts in 2016, 2017 and 2018, the injury bug has been a serious concern for him throughout his career so in this case, it’s best to proceed with caution.
Through six starts this season, Hill has a sparkling 2.89 ERA with a 3.38 FIP to go with it, pitching in 28 innings so far with 21 strikeouts against just seven walks. Featuring one of the slowest four seam fastballs in the league at 88mph, Hill’s signature pitch is his massive sweeping-curveball that sits around 70mph, one that he relies on heavily and has thrown over 40% of the time to begin the season.
While Hill’s early successes are certainly encouraging and are a welcome sight, we’ll have to check back with him in July/August to see if he has missed any more time from injuries.