It was a rough week for Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello, and the Red Sox still aren’t good enough

I don’t know how to properly start this section other than by simply asking: what in the world happened to Garrett Crochet on Monday? In less than two innings of work, he coughed up ***eleven*** runs (ten of which were earned; kinda funny to me that one of those runs was unearned but I digress) across nine hits. One of the best strikeout pitchers in the game failed to retire anybody by way of the K in his abbreviated start, by far the worst one of his Red Sox tenure thus far. Let’s hope it remains as his worst start for Boston, I guess. Our very own Keagan Stiefel did a nice write-up on a not-so-nice appearance from our ace, so I’d suggest reading that if you want to dive a bit more into that disaster class. The headline you need to know after this stinker, though, is that the stuff was down across the board. The velo specifically dropped by at least a full tick on all of his offerings in Minnesota. For what it’s worth, both Crochet himself along with the coaching staff said there were no injury concerns after the game. Crochet was even surprised that there were dips in the velo. A couple of things here. First, I’m glad he’s seemingly healthy. A BBQ chicken alert for the ace of the pitching staff would be so deflating. Yet at the same time, I don’t know whether to express concern that no one seems to know what the hell happened against the Twins or to just laugh at that fact. Your prized pig goes out and gets slaughtered and then you just throw your hands up and mumble “I dunno” in confusion—that’s just funny. Maybe it really was just a one-off, bad night that we can laugh about in the future……… ……….but is it almost as bad to just drop a complete, regular turd? *—————- (EVERYTHING I WROTE BEFORE THIS POINT WAS ON SUNDAY MORNING; THE REST IS SUNDAY EVENING)* I mean, I guess I’m a dumbass. I don’t have the energy (nor the time; I have a real life job I gotta be ready for) to dive into what the hell happened on Sunday. I can’t hit you with “WELL ACTUALLYYYYYYY” points when Crochet—the guy who is supposed to be the stopper—goes and does whatever the fuck that was on Sunday. No excuses for that; you’re a smarter reader than that, so I will not patronize you with the “bright side” after that display. To his credit, Crochet is facing the music. Either way, dude, come the fuck on. I dunno man. I’m pissed. I’m tired. Let’s move on; I don’t wanna think about this bad performance anymore. What’s gonna happen? Am I gonna complain about another pitc———

Have you noticed how often Red Sox pitchers, specifically Red Sox starters, have been throwing cutters this year? After featuring it as a secondary pitch in year’s past, Sonny Gray has made it his primary offering by throwing it 22% of the time. The cutter had overtaken the four-seam fastball as Crochet’s most-thrown pitch thus far in 2026 (prior to Sunday’s start, for full transparency). Ranger Suarez has thrown it 20% of the time, which would be a career high if that usage keeps up. It seems like we’re building most of the plane out of cutters. In a vacuum, perhaps that idea has some merit. The bite of a cutter can be lethal in either extend the zone to get guys to chase, or to tie batters up with something on their hands, all while keeping batters honest with some velo to go along with the movement. Mixing the glove-side movement of a cutter along with, say, any arm-side movement you could get with a sinker is a solid combo. When executed well, it’s a damn good type of fastball. That’s the thing, though: it’s not always executed well. Not everyone has a Mariano Rivera-y cutter. The cut fastball for Mr. Gray, for example, has worked for him so far. Opposing batters have only slugged .263 when hacking at Sonny’s cutter, and that pitch’s expected slugging percentage is only at .327. It’s not like he’s getting barreled up on that pitch (maybe on other pitches, but that’s another story). While the Minnesota game might have thrown a wrench into Crochet’s 2026 sample, the cutter worked really well for him last year; hitters facing Garrett in 2025 slugged south of .400 and had an xwOBA (translate to “quality of contact” for those of you who like plain English; can’t blame ya, feels like there are new analytical stats invented every day!) just below .300 when facing his cutter. But consider someone like Brayan Bello, who’s cutter usage has jumped from 16% last year to 26% this year. It’s overtaken his sweeper as his primary glove-side offering in 2026. My question about that change is simple: Why? Why are we doing that? I understand I’m doing an armchair pitching coach thing here, but when you look at the numbers here it’s a bit of a head scratcher. Bello’s cutter has, by and large, not been a valuable pitch. He introduced a cutter into his arsenal *(1-2 to Man City, uggh)* in 2023—and he only threw it 38 times that year, so I recognize that it’s not a significant enough a sample to base an entire thesis on—to the tune of a 1.083 slugging percentage and a .665 xSLG. Maybe that’s why he didn’t throw it a lot in 2023; in fact, he shelved it completely in 2024. After a fallow year, Bello threw his cut fastball 423 times in 2025, though the results were still not amazing: .437 slugging percentage, but a .506 xSLG. I don’t know about you, but when I look at those numbers I don’t see a pitch that is screaming to become the second-most deployed offering and the primary pitch to throw if you’re looking for any glove-side movement. With that in mind, maybe you understand why I’m confused about an uptick of ten percentage points for this cut fastball from Bello. You may also not be surprised to learn that after 94 cutters thrown in 2026, Bello’s slugging percentage surrendered on that pitch is .471 (so, worse than last year) on a .541 xSLG (again, worse that last year). Bello is throwing a not-great pitch more often this season and getting not-great results. The one thing I’ll say in defense of his cutter is that he’s getting a ton of swings-and-misses on it so far this year (57.4% whiff rate, damn), but forgive me if that put away potential isn’t moving me a ton considering that he’s failed to make it through five innings in three of his first four appearances this year. The dude had a 3.35 ERA last year! The FIP was north of 4.00 in 2025, sure, but there’s a solid starter in there that doesn’t need to have his repertoire scrambled to succeed. I’m all for trying new things on the mound to see if it works, and perhaps we’re still in the tinkering phase. Not all experiments work, though, and I’m curious to see if/when the Sox pull the plug on a cutter-dominant approach for Bello in 2026.

Fortunately for you, dear reader, I come bearing great news: I have secured two water cooler cups from Fenway Park. I love consuming. Consuming—especially at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts—is my favorite activity in the world. And isn’t that the most important factor of the last two home serieseseseseseses? The fact that I’m still consuming? The fact that that why we play at Fenway? Everything is great! I love baseball! Everything rules! Nothing is bad! It’s illegal to say that things are bad! We’re good! Baseball! Sports!