In the "Thanks, Capt. Obvious" department, the kid pitched FAR better than he did last Saturday in New York, exhibiting improved control while throwing strikes. But while his command was certainly better, it still wasn't great. He hit his catcher's target more frequently but still also a good bit, especially on his fastballs and more so earlier than late in the game. Webster also gave up some very loud outs on hard-hit balls: Pujols' laser to RF in the 1st, Trout's liner to deep CF for a sac fly in the 3rd, Freese's line drive 4-3 DP to end the 4th, Aybar's liner to CF in the 6th, and the hard LD to RF by Navarro in the 7th.
More pros than cons to be sure, and it was nice seeing him wriggle out of some situations that heretofore would have crushed his soul, but he's definitely got some work to do.
He busted out his slider this time around while the changeup took a back seat, and also dialed back on his sinker reliance. The 21 SL earned him 6 swings and misses, while the fastball (46) got him 3 and the change (12) produced 1. He also threw 5 sinkers (2 swings, no misses). That's 10 whiffs out of 84 pitches, which was great to see.
Before:
After:
Webster threw more far more strikes this time around while getting a lot less help from the home plate ump. Last week, facing a lefty-heavy NY lineup and working almost exclusively on the outside, he was gifted three balls out of the zone, though he lost the borderline battle 2 to 1.
Last night against a more balanced order with its most potent threats hitting RH, he was clearly burned on three balls well inside the zone, while getting only 1 of 4 calls on the fringes.
His first-inning K of Trout really seemed to set the tone for his confidence. All 4-seamers, all in the zone, and even after missing the call on his initial offering, he got him swinging:
After yielding 2 runs in the 3rd he issued a 2-out walk to Pujols, and I'm sure most of us had that familiar sense of impending doom. But he got Hamilton to bite on the second of two sinkers for the inning-ending groundout:
Pujols led off the 6th and we got to see a great mix of Webster's stuff. A high fastball to start it off, an outside slider for a called strike, a changeup on the low-outside corner fouled off, another slider low & away, and a low-inside changeup to get him swinging.
If the schedule and rotation holds and he stays on turn, we'll next see him back at Fenway on Thursday night vs the Astros. After that, a home rematch with the Angels on 8/19, the Mariners on 8/24, in Tampa on 8/30, and back at the Toilet on 9/4.
The stretch run would be vs BAL (9/9), at KC (9/14), at BAL (9/20), and vs NYY (9/26). So we've got at most 9 more chances to watch this kid refine and settle in.
