Per Brooks Baseball, the average speed on Price’s fastball has continued

He’ll help on the mound Josh Hader Jersey , but that’s not all." to decrease slightly from year to year since 2013 and sat at a career-low 93.14 mph last season. That’s a full three ticks slower than his 2010 average (96.28 mph) and 1 mph slower than 2017 (94.47). The decrease in velocity has led to a little more creativity. His changeup is more effective than ever with an average whiff percentage of 21.09 over the last four seasons, compared to 14.27% from 2011-2014. Price seems to be mixing in the cutter and change more often with the usage of both trending upwards over the last few years, which has contributed to a more off balance experience for opposing hitters. Even with the decrease in velocity, he still posted a 9.05 K/9 in 2018, slightly above his career-average of 8.68, per Fangraphs. If Sale hopes to maintain similar consistency throughout his transition into an older version of himself, Price is not a bad guy to be around. I don’t think anyone wants to see this year go to waste. Even with a few recent contract extensions, the time is still ticking on Boston’s core — especially the offense. J.D. Martinez can opt out after this season, while Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts are both free agents after 2020, in addition to Mitch Moreland, Brock Holt and Steve Pearce. It physically pains me to write this, but if Mookie and the Sox can’t agree on an extension next offseason, you have to seriously consider trading him before he hits free agency — but that’s for another day. Obviously, that’s also worst-case scenario but I can’t imagine Dealin’ Dave Dombrowski letting Betts walk for nothing. If we are nearing the end of this era Starlin Castro Jersey , it won’t feel right if it ends with the Sox at the bottom looking up. The first few weeks of this year have been frustrating to watch, especially in contrast with the 17-2 start in 2018 that keyed Boston’s fourth title in 15 years. Not much has changed on the roster, so I am struggling to understand how things can be this bad. The 2-8 start for the Sox was the worst record through 10 games for a defending champion since the 1998 Florida Marlins, who finished the season 54-108. And six of Boston’s next 13 games are against the Rays. You know the old saying: you can’t win the division in the first month of the year, but you can certainly lose it. Hopefully, Price can help make sure that doesn’t happen. Mr. Consistency had exactly the same number of hits and RBI in 2017 and 2018..."2018 rating: 4.262017 rating: 3.392018 salary: league minimum2018 performance: 14 games, 20 PA, .211/.250/.368 = .618 OPS2019 status: Pre-arbitrationAfter making his debut in June last year, it seemed possible that Ildemaro Vargas might take the next step in 2018. But for one reason or another, it didn’t happen. As last season, his playing time was almost entirely limited to after the rosters expanded on September 1st. Two seasons into his career, and the 27-year-old Vargas has managed exactly two plate appearances before that date on the calendar. Neither of them came this year, with Ildemaro making his first appearance in extra innings on September 6. It was the first of eight consecutive appearances off the bench, though he didn’t do anything to impress in the role, going 0-for-8 with four strikeouts and a double-play. He got his first start on September 19 http://www.marlinsfanproshop.com/authentic-starlin-castro-jersey , and picked up his first hit and run scored that day, It was back to the pine thereafter, with just one more start for Vargas the rest of the way. That did prove quite a memorable one, coming against the Padres in the penultimate game of the season. Ildemaro opened the scoring for Arizona with an RBI single, and followed that up with his career first home-run, a two-run shot off Jacob Nix (below), to give him his first multi-hit game. He also drew his first major-league walk in that game. The following day, he was pranked by his team-mates, but just like in 2017, Vargas finished the season with four hits. With only 20 plate-appearances in total, it’s hard to say much based on that. A better indicator might be his numbers with the Aces, for whom he appeared in 124 games. There, he hit .311, and was very much a guy who put the ball in play, rarely walking or striking out. Over his 572 PA for Reno Martin Prado Jersey , Ildemaro managed only 30 walks and 46 strikeouts, giving him an overall line of .311/.348/.445 for a .793 OPS. Given the team average OPS was .803, that’s only somewhat alright, though is mitigated by Vargas having been the Aces’ everyday starter at shortstop. He’s currently back home in Venezuela, playing in the winter league there for the Cardenales de Lara. At time of writing (Monday night), it has been more of the same for Ildemaro. Over 15 games, he’s hitting .308, which is pretty good on the surface. However, Vargas has only two walks in almost seventy plate-appearances - albeit with only two strikeouts - which have helped keep his OPS down to a less impressive .744. At his age, it seems doubtful he’s going to learn significantly more plate discipline going forward, and the Ildemaro we see now is, more than likely, to be the Ildemaro the Diamondbacks are going to get. It isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, especially since Vargas is a switch-hitter. That said, this year he was considerably better as a left-handed batter http://www.marlinsfanproshop.com/authentic-starlin-castro-jersey , with an OPS almost a hundred and ninety points better. And he’s far from the only switch-hitting middle infielder available, with Eduardo Escobar, Ketel Marte and Domingo Leyba all also offering the same flexibility. Escobar and Marte are likely superior from both sides, while the 23-year-old Leyba is both younger and seems to have better plate discipline. Though Ildemaro’s Peralta-like resurrection out of independent ball is a lovely story, and one which perhaps deserves more attention than it has received,I’m not exactly seeing any Silver Sluggers in Vargas’s future. Even if the team decides to thin the infield herd a bit, for example by non-tendering Chris Owings, it seems looks unlikely Vargas will have a spot on the Opening Day roster, save if health issues impact those ahead of him on the depth chart. One possible wild-card scenario here might be if they also decided to move Marte to center, going with a middle-infield of Escobar and Nick Ahmed. That could open up a bench spot for Ildemaro, with his ability to back-up at both second and short. It’s too early to say this is more than a possibility, and right now, it looks like he’ll begin the season with the Aces, though should have a better shot at pre-September games in 2019.