So the Yankees and Red Sox made the headlines last week by announcing a series next year will be will be held in OUR capital city, London. This is massive news for all UK baseball fans, not just Yankees and Red Sox fans. Whilst this is very big news, the same day as that announcement was made it was also the latest part of the rivalry. I’m going to say this now, I’m a Yankee fan but I’m writing this as impartial as I can be. The reason I’m writing all this is due to one person who was meant to take part in this series. A man who is earning quite a bit of money for his services to the Red Sox of Boston and his name is David Price.
So the starting pitching was all set, both sets of fans were ready. Drew Pomeranz v Luis Severino in game one, David Price v Masahiro Tanaka in game two and Rick Porcello v CC Sabathia in game three. But before we got to game two, David Price was scratched due to numbness in his left hand. Before I continue I in no way want to see ANY player injured or enjoy seeing players injured. The reason I feel I can write this is because yesterday I saw Mr Price pitch against the Blue Jays just days after this injury. One possible reason given for his injury is because he has been playing too much Fortnite (yes that computer game).
So let me get to the title. The Yankees and more importantly Gary Sanchez own David Price and are in his head. A Sox fan the other day said that Price always pitches well against the Yanks and that got me thinking. I don’t really remember Price pitching that well against the Yankees on the whole. That lead me into a black hole of stats and numbers.
So here we go: In his career against the Yankees he has 15-12 record which on the surface of it isn’t that bad with an ERA of 4.67. Most of his career has been spent in the AL East. He has pitched for Tampa, Toronto and Boston. He has pitched 235 total innings for these teams against the Yanks. In those innings he has given up 252 hits with 203 strikeouts. Again I hear you saying those aren’t horrible stats. It’s when you compare his career stats against the 3 teams who he has pitched against the most it becomes a little more interesting.
He has pitched against the Blue Jays 27 times:
- Record- 18-3
- ERA – 2.43
- Innings Pitched- 177.2
- Hits/Strikeouts – 148/156
He has pitched against the Orioles 25 times:
- Record- 12-5
- ERA – 2.81
- Innings Pitched- 163.1
- Hits/Strikeouts – 139/164
He has pitched against the Red Sox 23 times:
- Record- 11-6
- ERA- 3.08
- Innings Pitched- 152
- Hits/Strikeouts – 124/139
Those stats have been accumulated across his whole career. He gives up less than a hit per inning against all 3 of those teams. Whereas against the Yankees he gives up over a hit per inning. His ERA is quite a bit higher against the Yankees than Toronto, Baltimore and Boston. Yankees have a batting average of .272 . Blue Jays .214 , Orioles .225 and Red Sox .219 . Yankees have an OBP of .329 . Blue Jays .272 , Orioles .271 and Red Sox .275 .
I will admit that he has started the most amount of games in his career against the Yankees (39) but when you have played for 3 of the 5 teams in the AL East that will naturally be the case.
Now on to Gary Sanchez. He has had 12 AB against Price with 6 hits. Even I can figure out that’s a .500 average. What makes it that little more interesting is out of those 6 hits, 5 have been HR’s with 11 RBIs.
I know that’s not a big sample size but it’s more about what it suggests could be in store for Price, if he doesn’t take the opt out that is in his contract at the end of the year. So Price signed a 7 year $271,000,000 contract with Boston in 2016 all of which is guaranteed. As I said he has an opt out but he would foolish to take that opt out as he will earn $31 million in 2019 and $32 million in 2020, 2021 and 2022. So if he stays in Boston (which he should because he is not getting that amount of money anywhere else) that small sample size against Sanchez could get messier, every time he faces the Yankee stud.