2021 Red Sox Preview: Adam Ottavino

 Background:

Adam Ottavino is famous for saying that he would strike out Babe Ruth "every time" if he faced him in this day and age. While that sounds boastful at first, it's probably true. Ruth played well before players started taking better care of their bodies. It's also a given that he never experienced a slider like Ottavino's.

Ever since "AO" broke out in 2013 with the Rockies, he has used a deceptive delivery with a plus-plus slider to keep hitters uncomfortable. Without knowing whether the slider or fastball is coming, hitters can often look foolish against Ottavino. The only downside to this approach is, similar to his new teammate Matt Barnes, there can be a lot of walks.

2020:

Last summer was a disaster for Ottavino. who posted a hideous 5.89 ERA in 18 1/3 innings. Of course, regular readers of TooMuchTuma.Blogspot.com know better than to judge a reliever by their ERA from a shortened season. This is because the 35-year-old had one outing where he allowed six earned runs without recording an out. Yet the abbreviated season meant that he never had the time to recover.

A cerebral pitcher, Ottavino feels like he knows what went wrong:

• “I don’t want to give away too many things,” Ottavino said in response to my question. “But multiple shapes of my breaking pitches is the area where I can be elite at. That’s the category I feel is my specialty. Just trying to lean into that and grab a little better control of pitches that break downward, as well as sideways and everything in between… I just want to be a little more diversified.”

• Ottavino elaborated, saying that he’d become too enamored with a specific shape on his slider, and as a result, hitters had begun tracking its break. Hence the desire to return to throwing multiple variations of his signature pitch.

To summarize, AO needs to mix in other breaking pitches besides his slider, which hitters have grown used to.

Contract Situation:

Also like Barnes, Ottavino is a free agent after 2021. He was acquired in a trade with the Yankees this offseason as New York aimed to shed payroll. Boston also received a pitching prospect as part of the return.

2021 And Beyond:

We know that Cora hasn't named a closer yet. The options are seemingly Barnes and Ottavino, with Barnes being the presumed favorite as of now. For all the success he has had in late-inning situations, Ottavino hasn't ever been used as a locked-in closer and has just 19 saves in his career. That doesn't really mean anything, of course, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him get some ninth-inning chances. He's one of a handful of pitchers the Sox need to "bounce back" in 2021.