Did Red Sox's Connor Seabold Ignore Alex Cora's Request In Latest Start?

You'd think a rookie would be more likely to follow their manager.
Did Red Sox's Connor Seabold Ignore Alex Cora's Request In Latest Start?
Did Red Sox's Connor Seabold Ignore Alex Cora's Request In Latest Start? /
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Did Boston Red Sox pitcher Connor Seabold ignore the one thing manager Alex Cora asked him to do in his start against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday at Great American Ball Park?

All signs point to the rookie hurler deciding not to take his skipper's advice heading into his first start at the Major League Baseball level since July 8.

At the conclusion of Tuesday's loss in Cincinnati, Cora spoke about how he wanted to experiment with certain pitch usages from the young guns. 

"It’s about usage and stuff like that," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "(Stuff) that’s going to make them better. We’re going to see it (Wednesday) with Connor (Seabold). We want him to use certain pitches, and be aggressive with them, and trust his stuff."

During the game, The Boston Globe's Alex Speier revealed what Cora was referring to

"Sox want to see Seabold increase his changeup usage this game compared to his earlier starts, see that as a swing-and-miss weapon that can help him navigate an order more than once," Speier tweeted.

Despite Cora's reported request, Seabold threw just 13 changeups compared to 47 fastballs, 24 sliders and a lone curveball. 

After the game, Cora might have hinted toward a little frustration.

"The pitch mix, we still have to work on it," Cora told reporters after the game, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "We cannot be so fastball heavy, especially in the division that we play (in). It’s a good first step. The fastball played early on. The slider was better than expected than the one I saw early in the season. The change-up is still one that we want to see a little bit more often. But overall, a solid (outing)."

Unsurprisingly, Seabold's changeup was by far his best pitch in limited use. The pitch registered a 40% whiff rate compared to 15% on his fastball and 9% on his slider, as well as the lowest exit velocity.

Seabold's season-long whiff rate with the changeup is 42.9%, much higher than his fastball at 23.9% and slider at 19.2%.

Despite the potential of the pitch, and the team's request to see it more as of late, Seabold has only featured it 21.5% of the time. The hesitancy to use his best pitch has been a strange storyline and one that will be worth following.

More MLB: Red Sox's Bobby Dalbec's Blasting Homers For WooSox, But Biggest Flaw Remains


Published
Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu