Red Sox at Rays Lineups: Here we go

The Red Sox are set to kick off the American League Division Series against the 100 win Rays. I don’t know how we got here, I really don’t. The team was in a continuous state of turmoil for an entire half of the regular season. The Red Sox lost one of their star players tripping over a base jogging out to right field in a game that they needed to win to clinch a wildcard spot. That J.D. Martinez incident was a metaphor for the entire second half. Yet somehow, the Red Sox are still standing.

Alex Cora will put his faith behind Eduardo Rodríguez (13-8, 4.74 ERA) in Game One of the ALDS. Rodríguez has had an up and down season but has been much more reliable down the stretch. Since August 1, Rodríguez has pitched 12 games and has a 3.26 ERA and 64/19 K/BB ratio in 58 innings.

The Rays will deploy rookie Shane McClanahan (10-6, 3.43 ERA), a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher. McClanahan has some very confusing metrics and in typical Rays fashion, never sees the order a third time.

McClanahan is in the 85th percentile for whiff rate, 76th percentile for chase rate, 75th percentile for strikeout. These stats all indicate that he is very good at missing bats. However, when hitters do make contact, they hit the ball hard. He is in the second percentile for average exit velocity, sixth percentile for hard-hit rate, and tenth percentile for barrel rate. In other words, he gets hit about as hard as anyone in the MLB.

McClanahan has a fastball with an average velocity of 96.4 mph, an elite slider, an elite curveball, and a changeup he only throws to righties. His fastball is hittable mainly because of location. His heat zone shows that he sprays the middle of the plate with fastballs, which the Red Sox will look to take advantage of.

J.D. Martinez made the ALDS roster but is not in the starting lineup tonight. He should be available off the bench. Other than that, both lineups appear to be pretty standard.