Rays hoping to get Chris Archer on track against Indians
Tampa Bay Rays ace Chris Archer has no desire to talk about his slow start this season. That’s because he feels it has been overblown by reporters looking to fill space with theories about a dip in velocity.
The results are what they are though. Archer is 0-2 this season with a 7.20 ERA in his two starts. If you go back to last season, he’s 0-5 with a 6.15 ERA over his last eight starts. Those are numbers that will always get people’s attention. And when you couple that with his fastball and slider being down a couple ticks, it will lead to questions being asked.
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As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Archer has a chance to squash those concerns through his actions on Thursday, when he takes on the Cleveland Indians at Tropicana Field.
You’ll have a chance to judge his performance as well as that will be Yahoo Sports’ Free MLB Game of the Day. A live stream of the contest will be available at sports.yahoo.com/videos beginning at 1:10 p.m. ET.
For what it’s worth, Rays manager Kevin Cash hasn’t expressed any concern about Archer. By the same token, the Rays seemingly have no intentions to slow him down or limit his workload. Still, there’s concern that Archer’s workload last season — he made a career-high 34 starts and pitched a career-high 212 innings in 2015 — could be a contributing factor to a rough finish last season and a sluggish start in 2016.
The truth is, every pitcher is different. Every arm is different. There’s no telling what Archer’s reality is until we have more data, and that starts with Thursday.
In the meantime, we can focus on what is known. Rays pitching had the toughest draw in baseball during opening week. They opened at home with a four-game series against the loaded Toronto Blue Jays lineup. Then they followed with a weekend series in Baltimore against an Orioles lineup that more closely resembles a beer-league softball lineup, but has so far been very effective.
The Rays knew they were going to give up runs — and they did, sometimes in bunches — and ace Chris Archer had to absorb a lot of that. He made starts in both series, and couldn’t get through five innings either time.
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To his credit, he battled hard against Toronto, striking out 12 and allowing three runs. Still, they were ill-timed runs and he ultimately took the loss. Over the weekend in Baltimore, things got ugly. Archer allowed a career-high four home runs, including three in his final inning. If there’s any solace to be taken from the outing, it’s that all four home runs were solo shots. Still, the damage was done and the Rays couldn’t recover.
To be honest, a couple ticks on the fastball probably wouldn’t have made a difference in those two games. And when you dissect each, he wasn’t truly terrible in either. He made his share of mistakes though, and he paid for all of them.
Now he’ll move on to a Cleveland team that rests its hopes on a loaded rotation, while hoping to find enough offense to get by. It’s a lineup Archer has a chance to dominate. And its a lineup that, if Archer struggles again, he won’t be able to get away simply dismissing any questions or concerns.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
