The Boston Red Sox’ demotion of Walker Buehler from the starting rotation leaves some questions to be answered. The main question is who will start in Buehler’s place on Monday?
According to Masslive’s Sox insider Chris Cotillo, the Sox will choose from two young flamethrowers: Richard Fitts, and Kyle Harrison.
“For Monday’s outing, Richard Fitts and Kyle Harrison are the leading candidates to pitch. It’ll likely depend on how the next few days go in NY. If Fitts pitches (in a multi-inning role), bet on Harrison to make that start. If not, Fitts is with the club and ready,” Cotillo wrote.
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It’s a tough choice between the two, as both are solid end of the rotation guys. In the majors, Fitts has a 4.83 ERA with 34 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.317 in 41 innings pitched. Harrison has an 4.56 ERA with 25 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.268 in 23 innings pitched.
The key factor is like Cotillo said, if Fitts pitches at all during the series against the New York Yankees. Fitts is in a reliever role at the moment, and hasn’t pitched yet with the Sox having one more game in New York tomorrow.
However, there is still a chance even if Fitts doesn’t pitch, the Sox promote Harrison anyway. He’s doing great as a starter in AAA, and if he can translate that to the majors, he might be even better than Fitts.
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Hopefully, the Sox figure it out soon, as they have one day to decide who it will be. Either way, the back end of the rotation will remain a question mark a little longer.
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