When the Red Sox gave Walker Buehler a one-year, $21 million contract last winter, it appeared to be a no-lose situation. Buehler was coming back from an injury-riddled season with the Dodgers, one that he finished strong in the postseason, and with a limited commitment in a deep rotation, Boston appeared to be a good place for Buehler to have a bounce-back performance.
But after a good stretch in April and for much of May, Buehler began unraveling with his May 31 start vs. the Braves. In six games beginning with that one, a 5-0 loss, Buehler went 1-4 with a 10.80 ERA, failing to get through five innings in four of the six starts. There has been consideration from the team about pulling Buehler from the starting group and, perhaps, using him in long relief.
That would represent a stark demotion for a guy who was an All-Star in 2021.
He improved a bit in his final two starts before the All-Star break, allowing five earned runs in 11.0 innings, and came back on Monday with an excellent start against a potent Phillies lineup, yielding one earned run in 7.0 innings, throwing just 89 pitches, 61 of which were strikes.
The timing was good–the Red Sox need to figure out whether Buehler will remain in the rotation, especially with the MLB trade deadline approaching, as the team battles for an A.L. playoff spot.
Walker Buehler Working on Mechanics
Buehler, for his part, expects that he be useful if and when the Red Sox make the playoffs–though he admits he has not been carrying his weight lately.
“I keep seeing all this stuff about guys starting playoff games. At this point, I’m not a guy that can do that,” said Buehler, via MassLive. “My whole career, that’s what I’ve done and done really well. I think that’s the goal, to stay in that conversation to start playoff games when we get there.”
Buehler explained that he has done some work on his mechanics.
“I’ve been talking to some biomechanic people, a couple different ones,” Buehler said. “Went to a place that specializes that in Atlanta. To be honest with you, just having different conversations with different people will spark things. I found a couple new cues that make everything feel a little bit more normal. Now it’s just honing that in with a little more violence.”
Red Sox Rotation Lacking Depth
Things have improved. The Red Sox have an ace in Garrett Crochet, and have gotten solid performances from Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello lately. But they lack depth, with Hunter Dobbins and Kutter Crawford out for the year, Kyle Harrison struggling in Triple A and Tanner Houck still working his way back.
Buehler pointed out that he was not dominant, but that he feels more like himself lately.
“My last three have been a big improvement on the six or eight before that. I feel like I’m on the right track,” Buehler said. “This one in particular, I felt a lot more normal. When I threw the ball, it was in the zone, regardless of what I was trying to do with it.
“The way I was brought up in in this game and how I learned growing up was that if you don’t have your best stuff, you try to get the ball on the ground and eat innings and get through games. I felt like tonight was as good as my delivery has been but my arm’s a little bit behind that. It’s not like I went and punched 10.”
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