The Boston Red Sox have an elite relief pitcher that has yet to step on the mound in 2018. He’s on a rehab assignment right now for an injury that has kept him out for over a month. This player is coming off a career year and was named to his first All-Star game in 2018. During his last full season on the mound this player went 7-1 with a 0.53 ERA in 55 IP. He had 112 Ks to only 19 BBs and led Amory High School to a Class 3A State Championship series the year before. Mitch Moreland had one heck of a senior season on his way to Mississippi State. Now I know high school baseball stats don’t always translate exactly into the pros. Even if he had an absolute train wreck of a season and his ERA doubled, a 1.06 is nothing to cry about.
I’m not just basing this take off of his high school baseball stats. That would be preposterous. No, he has pitched well in two career innings at the MLB level. He has allowed two hits, no walks and recorded a strikeout in two games on the mound. Baseball Reference projects that over a 162-game season Moreland would have a 0.00 ERA in 68 IP with 34 Ks and 0 BBs. Now I would never compare a player to Mariano Rivera but this guy would make Trevor Hoffman look like Drew Pomeranz. 68 consecutive scoreless innings would break the MLB record and that doesn’t even factor in the two-inning lead he already has. We are talking about 70 scoreless innings just sitting at first base playing Gold Glove defense like a moron.
Watch this video and tell me Mitch Moreland isn’t an MLB level pitcher:
Moreland touched 94 MPH in his Red Sox pitching debut further proving he is better than some of our less talented pitchers (Hector Velazquez) that I shall not name. Now stat nerds will tell you that Mitch Moreland was an American League All-Star First-Basemen last season and he should continue to play the position that has gotten him national recognition. Those idiots didn’t watch the 1:11 minute video I just linked. Have Moreland bridge the gap to Barnes who will get the ball to Workman until Cora is ready to give Moreland the closing job.
Now as some of you might be thinking, I’ve read 373 words to this point and lost brain cells. First of all that’s incredible that you were able to count and read at the same time, and second, I’ll finally give a real take. The Red Sox need to figure out a way to acquire Shane Greene. He has 1.06 ERA in 34 IP with 22 saves in 24 opportunities. Opponents are hitting .154 against Shane Greene. That’s a worse batting average than Rougned Odor who is hitting .192 (lowest among qualified hitters). Opponents against Shane Greene have a worse chance to get a hit than Rougned Odor against the rest of the MLB. The Red Sox need to go get this guy.
Pairing Greene with Eovaldi would create a formidable one-two punch that cannot possibly be worse than what our current assembly of misfit relievers have put together this season. If Boston had an established 9th inning guy Eovaldi could fit in as a super reliever which would allow guys like Workman and Barnes to get some rest. It would also allow those two to pitch in lower leverage situations which will help them work out of jams when they walk the first two batters in the inning.
Boston should be willing to put just about anybody in the deal as there are few prospects that have performed at a high level this season. He would be around for next year as well which is more enticing since the Red Sox chances of winning a title this season are low to say the least.
If you like this article you can read my take a while back about how Vazquez should’ve been an All-Star this season. I may or may not have spelled Vazquez wrong every single time originally.
If you’re a Patriots fan I broke down each rookie in the in the 2019 NFL Draft Class starting with: