Can Red Sox Fix Recently Signed Former Cy Young Finalist With Elite Upside?

The potential for a comeback exists, but chances are slim

The Boston Red Sox made a roster move in an attempt to bolster their pitching staff.

Dinelson Lamet signed a minor-league deal with the Red Sox on Wednesday morning.

Lamet has struggled this year with the Colorado Rockies, posting a 11.57 ERA, 31-to-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .349 batting average against and a 2.34 WHIP in 25 2/3 innings pitched across 16 games. 

The former top prospect finished fourth in National League Cy-Young voting back in 2020, which attests to his recent struggles having the potential of being reversed by the Red Sox.

The Rockies used Lamet as a reliever for most of the 2023 season but in his last few games with the organization they had him in the rotation. As of now, it's unclear where the Red Sox will have him coming in to impact games. 

With Lamet's stats this year having been substantially worse than his career average, his signing is a low-risk high-reward situation for the .500 Red Sox.

The question remains -- Can the Red Sox get him back to his former self? 

It would take an immense amount of work given his underlying metrics. The 30-year-old ranks in the first percentile in walk rate and hard-hit rate, the second percentile in chase rate and fifth percentile in average exit velocity.

There are only a few encouraging signs that point toward a potential big-league comeback, his fastball velocity is in the 70th percentile and his fastball spin rate is in the 88th percentile. This means he has the physical tools to be a high-quality pitcher. 

The most encouraging advanced metric was his expected batting average of .185 against his slider -- which was far lower than his actual batting average against of .309. That information paired with his 36.5% whiff rate point to his slider being much better in Boston than it was in Colorado. 

He'll be a project but one worth taking a flyer on as the team looks for pitching help anywhere it can get it.

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