MLB rumors: Cashman trash is now treasure, Red Sox pitcher demoted, walk-offs are everything
By Josh Wilson
Alex Cora moves Nick Pivetta to a relief role
Nick Pivetta is no longer going to be a starter for the Boston Red Sox, at least for the time being. Manager Alex Cora told reporters after Wednesday night’s game that Pivetta will move into a multi-inning relief role for the Red Sox.
Cora included some hope, though, saying that he needs to, “Just dominate,” his role and that he’s seen him do it before.
Cora says Pivetta is going to the bullpen as a multi-inning reliever. “It’s where we’re at. We’re getting healthy. We have a lot of starters. … Just dominate your role. We’ve seen him do it before.”
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) May 18, 2023
In eight games started this year, Pivetta has put up a WHIP of 1.55, far higher than his 1.31 or 1.38 as a 30-plus game starter in 2021 and 2022. Per nine innings, here’s how his stats have played out in 2021, 2022, and 2023 with hits, walks, and strikeouts, in that order:
- 2021: 8.0; 1.4; 3.8
- 2022: 8.8; 1.4; 3.7
- 2023: 9.7; 2.0; 4.3
While his strikeouts are up (which is somewhat misleading because he’s also facing more batters. His K% is lower this year than in 2021 and 2022), he’s allowing far more hits and walking more batters as well. Pivetta, according to Baseball Savant, is allowing a bottom nine percent of the league average exit velo (93.9 MPH) and hard-hit percentage (51.7%). Batters slugged .422 against his four-seamer last year, his best pitch, so far this year, .622.
A role change appears to be due here where Pivetta can regain some confidence on the bump. Clearly, Cora still has some belief in him since he’ll be using him as a multi-inning reliever.