News and Notes: Guardians Beat Best Team in Baseball, Oh Boyd!
News and Notes for Saturday, September 7th, 2024
Going into Dodger Stadium for a three-game series, it was crucial that the Guardians get a game, and they did exactly that behind the strong performance of veteran lefty and erstwhile late-season hero Matthew Boyd.
Boyd had a bit of a shaky start in the first, allowing a deep fly ball to Shohei Ohtani, a double to Mookie Betts and hitting Teoscar Hernandez. But, he escaped the gym and went on to allow only two more hits (including a late home run to the demigod Ohtani) before exiting after six strong innings.
Tom Hamilton was sharing how the Guardians were raving about Boyd leading up to his debut and he had some very strong outings in the minors, but the number of Guardians’ fans who expected him to be sitting on September 7th with a 2.99 xERA and 3.36 FIP has to be pretty slim. Looking at his starts prior to his Tommy John surgery, I was optimistic they had themselves a four or five starter, but, right now, he is offering the team front line of the rotation production. If Alex Cobb can shake off his finger issues, I’m going to have to revise my trade deadline grade for the Guardians from a C to an A. And, I’m more than happy to do so. Boyd seems like a delight and he has absolutely shoved, as the kids say.
A quick look at how Boyd is doing this reveals an all-time high for him in changeup usage (25%) and almost everything he is throwing is sweeping across the zone with his fastball 39% above average in veritcal movement, changeup 13% above average, curveball 17% above average and sinker 6% above average. Meanwhile, his drop slider is dropping about 6% above average. The pitch mix is key with 34% fastballs, 25% changeups, 21% slider, 14% sinkers, and then 6% curveballs to keep hitters honest, all of which signifying a much reduced fastball usage rate from any of his previous years as a starter. Major props to Boyd for his preparation and the Guardians’ coaching and catching staff for helping to maximize his offerings.
Of course, the Guardians’ offense was led by their big thumpers in the middle infield with a two-run home run from Andres Gimenez and a solo shot from Brayan Rocchio. Since August 1st, Gimenez has a 97 wRC+. If we can just get something like that from you for a full season, Gime, we will be golden. Since August 1st, Rocchio has a 115 wRC+. I’m not sure how sustainable it is, but if he can be that kind of hitter, that’s a top 10 shortstop in the bigs. And, just when I was ready for a reset in Columbus. “Faith, balls and patience” Rocchio tweeted this January, and it turns out I needed more of all three to process his rookie season correctly.
Alex Cobb is scheduled, now, to start Monday with Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee going these last two games in LA, due to a blister situation on his pitching hand forefinger. Guardians are hopeful moving him out of the 108 degree heat of California will help mitigate the issue.
AROUND MLB:
The Twins lost to the Royals and the Astros shut out the Diamondbacks in our continued tracking of the division race and the competition for the AL’s top two seeds. The Guardians are five games up in the loss column on the Royals, Twins and Astros with 21 games remaining.