Once I interviewed him again in January, Richard Fitts informed me that his objective was to be a longtime huge leaguer in Boston, and that his focus was merely on changing into the most effective model of himself. He’s since taken vital steps on each fronts. The 24-year-old right-hander labored on fine-tuning his repertoire and utilization at Triple-A Worcester, then impressed after receiving his first call-up in September. Furthermore, he etched his identify into the document books. Fitts didn’t enable an earned run over his preliminary 18 2/3 innings — this over three-plus begins — essentially the most ever for a Purple Sox pitcher to start his profession. As of proper now, Roster Useful resource tasks Fitts to be within the Purple Sox rotation subsequent season, although that would change relying on Lucas Giolito’s well being and whether or not they signal a frontline starter or two this winter.
The Auburn College product had lately come to Boston through commerce after we spoke 11 months in the past. A sixth-round choose within the 2021 draft, Fitts was acquired together with Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice from the New York Yankees in trade for Alex Verdugo. On the time he’d been relying totally on a four-seam fastball, with a slider serving as his greatest secondary. He described the latter as being “slightly bit in between” a traditional slider and a sweeper.
How does the present iteration of the 6-foot-4, 245-pound hurler evaluate to the one I’d spoken to final winter? Is he mainly the identical pitcher? I requested him these questions on the ultimate day of the common season.
“No, positively not,” replied Fitts, who completed his four-game cup of espresso with a 1.74 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and 9 strikeouts over 20 2/3 innings. “I’ve grown so much, studying how my pitches work in zone, out of zone, and to totally different sorts of hitters. I labored so much on my usages all year long. I’m throwing fewer fastballs than I used to be originally of the season. I’m feeling good about the place my steps have taken me, and I’ve much more to perform within the offseason.”
A precedence is bettering the frequency with which he punches out hitters. Fitts logged strong strikeout numbers within the minors, however his Ok-rate in his MLB cameo was a paltry 10.6%.
“I need to sharpen every part going into subsequent season, but when I had been to dial it down, it’s about my two-strike execution,” defined Fitts. “We positively noticed that in my final outing, towards the Blue Jays. I used to be getting to 2 strikes very well, however I wasn’t capable of end guys off. I must make higher pitches in these conditions.”
The sport in Toronto was when he lastly surrendered earned runs, Alejandro Kirk doing bulk of the harm with RBI hits in each the fourth and fifth innings. However whereas Fitts didn’t execute in a handful of at-bats that day, his performances in a Purple Sox uniform had been definitely noteworthy. Which isn’t to say that Fitts was overly impressed with himself. He wasn’t. Requested if he really pitched higher in his 4 huge league outings than he did over his 24 within the minors — he had a 4.17 ERA and a 4.86 FIP in Worcester — the savvy teenager provided an insightful reply.
“I don’t assume I used to be essentially higher right here,” mentioned Fitts, whose 22.6% Ok-rate in Triple-A was greater than double what it was within the majors. “It’s simply sort of how issues work out. Generally you’ve received the blokes [positioned] in the appropriate spot. I wasn’t putting guys out right here. Guys had been placing the ball in play, and that leaves room for the ball to fall in sure locations. My objective for subsequent 12 months is to have the ability to strike extra guys out at this stage, and transfer on from there.”
Which brings us to the “how,” and the standard of his particular person pitches. Whereas Fitts’ fastball has “all the time been my bread and butter, particularly from Double-A on down,” he absolutely acknowledges that he has gotten much less swing-and-miss with it on the highest ranges, therefore the elevated utilization of his different choices. As for the general high quality of his heater, it has remained basically the identical. Motion is one other story.
“I’m chopping it slightly bit extra with the large league ball than I used to be with the minor league ball,” mentioned Fitts, whose fastball averaged 94.5 mph this season. “I’m not shedding any vert — I nonetheless have 18-20 [inches] — however I’m additionally going through hitters who’re so much higher. That’s why I’ve wanted to combine in my different pitches extra typically.”
Requested to elaborate on the motion distinction, Fitts mentioned he’s getting round one inch of arm-side horizontal, whereas final 12 months his horizontal motion was round six to seven inches to the arm facet. The change hasn’t precisely come as a shock.
“Again after I was with the Yankees, they’d me experiment with a big-league ball slightly bit, simply to get me used to it earlier than I moved as much as Triple-A, and so they hypothesized that I might get extra reduce on it,” Fitts mentioned. “Then, as soon as I received to final offseason, I began throwing the large league ball and noticed that I used to be getting extra horizontal [movement to the glove side]. I believed it was a foul factor at first, however I’ve sort of embraced it. I really sort of prefer it.”
Fitts isn’t positive how a lot the distinction in baseballs may need impacted his sweeper, a pitch he threw 13.4% of the time with Boston, however he does know that it has gotten higher. Whereas he was getting simply eight inches of horizontal motion in 2023, he now averages 14. His gyro slider, which he threw 31.2% of the time, averages round 5 inches of horizontal break.
As for his fastball, despite the fact that he decreased its utilization this season, Fitts nonetheless considers it his go-to pitch.
“I nonetheless assume my fastball is admittedly good,” mentioned Fitts, who threw his four-seamer 44.6% of the time to the tune of a .200 BAA throughout his temporary MLB stint. “I’ve labored actually laborious on my changeup [which Statcast calls a splitter], however the gyro slider and the fastball have sort of been the two-pitch combine for me. It’s only a matter of me mixing higher, and clearly executing higher.”
