Eovaldi had a legitimate standout season in 2018 between Tampa Bay and Boston. He looked like a totally different pitcher, and suddenly his numbers were starting to match the stuff he’s flashed throughout his career. Eovaldi started throwing the pitch when he came back in May of this past season, and it absolutely changed everything. It pains me to give credit to the Rays, but they deserve all of it here. Then, he signed with the Rays in 2017 as he rehabbed, and while he was coming back for the 2018 season the coaching staff in Tampa suggested he bring the pitch back all the way. The Yankees then stuck with that repertoire, though he did start throwing the cutter a little bit again in 2016 before getting hurt and eventually undergoing Tommy John surgery. Instead, the Marlins asked him to focus on his slider and changeup, and eventually he started leaning on a splitter. He used to throw the offering way back in his Dodgers days at the very start of his career, but when he was sent to Miami they had him scrap it. The cutter wasn’t a brand new addition to Eovaldi’s repertoire or a pitch he just learned to help him take his game to the next level.
There’s plenty of reason to think it was sustainable, though, and it all comes down to the cut fastball. It’s not unfair to think it may have been a flash in the pan. We’re still talking about one good year that was only 111 regular season innings. Now, that’s not to say there aren’t concerns. That’s just not true at all, as Eovaldi looked good over the entire 2018 season and was very impressive for his entire three-month tenure with the Red Sox. On the other hand, there is this idea I have seen (largely from national baseball fans more than Red Sox fans) that he simply turned it on in October and the team paid for one good month of baseball. Well, he’s not going to be the guy we saw in October over the course of an entire season. Is Eovaldi actually as good as we saw for the second half of the season and into October? There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but we haven’t spent a ton of time talking about what this actually means on the field. A lot of the positives we’ve discussed, while totally valid, have to do with just being happy as a fan.
#Nathan eovaldi pitch repertoire free#
There are a few ways this can go south, but that’s true of every free agent contract. As we discussed later in the day, it was mostly a good signing from our perspective. It was a big move for the team, as it rounded out their 2019 rotation and gave them one more starting pitcher under control for more than a year as they continue to plan for potentially moving into a post- Chris Sale era after this coming season. The Red Sox, in case you missed it, made their biggest splash of the offseason to date when they brought back postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi on a four-year deal worth $68 million.
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