Analyzing Beckett
April 5, 2007 by Geoff Young
Filed under Personalities, Stats and Analysis
Ian at Giving 110 Percent examines Boston right-hander Josh Beckett’s first start and finds reasons to be encouraged:
Beckett was using his curve much more often than he did last year. Some were very good, but he was having difficulty locating it. It almost seemed he was being stubborn with it in the same way he would be stubborn with his fastball last year. It’s like Francona and Farrell told him to throw more curves so he did even though he couldn’t locate it that well.
I don’t know enough about Beckett’s stuff to comment meaningfully on the specifics, but I will offer this: It’s possible that if Beckett is trying to feature the curve ball more prominently, he’ll take some short-term losses. The return on investment of having a more diverse repertoire, however, probably will make it worth his and the Red Sox’s while in the long-run.
Perhaps those of you who have seen more of Beckett’s starts might have additional thoughts?
Didn’t Beckett use to have great curveball? Kinda a RH version of Zito’s. What happened?