Openers

[Pedroia's Itchy Nose]

It seems that openers have fallen out of favor a bit, but I can't help but wonder if some of the Sox starters could benefit from an opener. While Eovaldi and Perez have been pretty steady performers regardless of which turn through the order they are on, Richards, Pivetta and Rodriguez have substantial splits:

Rodriguez

• 1st time through order: .336 wOBA against
• 2nd time through order: .301 wOBA against
• 3rd time through order: .428 wOBA against (!!!)

Pivetta

• 1st time through order: .301 wOBA against
• 2nd time through order: .299 wOBA against
• 3rd time through order: .411 wOBA against (!!!)

Richards

• 1st time through order: .432 wOBA against (!!!)
• 2nd time through order: .306 wOBA against
• 3rd time through order: .388 wOBA against

I can't say that I have a deep understanding of the logic behind an opener, but I could see logic behind all three of these pitchers benefiting from one. For the two pitchers who fade hard the third time through the order, having an opener would mean that the third time through the order would begin lower in the lineup. Those batters should be more likely to convert to outs, thus increasing the likelihood that either of these pitchers would be able to get at least part way through the lineup the third time through. Furthermore, even if the team can only steal one or two outs this way before getting to the top of the order, it reduces the likelihood that a relief pitcher will be coming into the game in a disaster situation with multiple runners on and 0-1 out.

Richards, on the other hand, would benefit from starting his outing against weaker hitters. I think we mostly assume that pitchers struggle the third time through due batters getting comfortable with more looks, fatigue, or both. None of these factors should be causing Richards problems at the start. It's more likely that there is something mental or physical going on that is reducing his effectiveness early in the game. Maybe giving Richards the opportunity to get through that rough phase against weaker hitters would reduce some of the damage that he takes the first time through the order.

Valdez and Whitlock both seem like they could be candidates to be an opener.

I imagine there are good reasons not to try an opener strategy. Surely the team has considered it? I'd be interested to know what the thinking is.

 

[NoXInNixon]

In the not-too-distant future, no pitcher will ever be allowed to go more than three innings in a game. There won't be a distinction between starters and relievers. Teams will just have 12 pitchers, and somewhere between 3 and 6 of them will pitch any given day.

 

[jon abbey]

In the not-too-distant future, no pitcher will ever be allowed to go more than three innings in a game. There won't be a distinction between starters and relievers. Teams will just have 12 pitchers, and somewhere between 3 and 6 of them will pitch any given day.

Pretty sure we’ve seen a big drop in openers baseball-wide this season, back to mostly conventional SPs.

 

[Pedroia's Itchy Nose]

Pretty sure we’ve seen a big drop in openers baseball-wide this season, back to mostly conventional SPs.

Have you seen any good analysis as to why this is? It would be really interesting to have a good breakdown of what teams were trying to accomplish by using an opener and why it has fallen out of fashion this year.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

I suspect we may begin to see more of it as the season tightens and into the playoffs

 

[allmanbro]

I had expected lots more finagling going on because pitchers would have heavy innings limits this year after the short season last year. Maybe that picks up too as pitchers run into those limits.

Richards definitely seems like a candidate to try this with, since he seems like a good candidate to try SOMETHING with to see if you can get better results.

 

[jon abbey]

Have you seen any good analysis as to why this is? It would be really interesting to have a good breakdown of what teams were trying to accomplish by using an opener and why it has fallen out of fashion this year.

I haven't but obviously TB has been the main team to explore this and they have had a crazy amount of pitching injuries the last two seasons.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

I haven't but obviously TB has been the main team to explore this and they have had a crazy amount of pitching injuries the last two seasons.

This….and the fact that they continuously trade away their best pitchers…yet they still seem to always have a great pitching staff…. are mind boggling to me