The Papelbon Problem

Once again, in today’s game against the Blue Jays, it appeared that opposing lineup was sitting on Jonathan Papelbon’s fastball. They laid off his other pitches, which were generally out of the zone and absolutely smoked his fastball. The results--2 runs--could have been worse if not for some nice defense and some good fortune. It’s become entirely too predictable for opposing teams.

In a recent Amalie Benjamin article, pitching coach John Farrell explained that Papelbon was indeed throwing more fastballs to lower his pitch counts and be able to pitch more often. He explained that they felt that lack of variety was okay because “"Yes, they may be sitting on a fastball, but when he has the command that he can show and the ability to throw it to four quadrants of the strike zone, you can say at 95-96 miles per hour, that’s like four different pitches,” pitching coach John Farrell said before the game. “Because he goes to those areas by design, he can begin to spread the strike zone a little bit more, which has the same effect if you’re using a split or a slider off the plate.”

That sounds kind of like wishful thinking. A lot of guys can throw a good fastball with good control, but they need more than that to be effective. Now that the words seems to be out that, Papelbon is going to have throw another pitch effectively or they will continue to tee off on the fastball. The good news is that a) they got that message reinforced today without losing a game over it and b) they have a couple weeks to try adjust their game plan. Hopefully, they’ll start to do so immediately.