Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
The Toronto Blue Jays need to find solutions to their pitching woes, and Todd Redmond has presented himself as a possible solution for the no. 5 spot in the starting rotation.
Redmond has made four starts in the month of July with an average of just over five innings per start and has made a good showing for himself in three of those games. While that will not cut it for the top half of the starting rotation, it will work just fine for a fifth starter.
Keep in mind Redmond only started one game last season, so he has not had an opportunity to build his stamina to pitch deeper into games. Redmond has struck out 26 batters while only giving out seven free passes this month. He has the stuff to get batters out. When he needs a strike out, he has the pitches required to induce swings and misses. The movement on his pitches looks crisp and looks like it is under control.
The problem for the righty arises when he starts to lose confidence in his pitches and gets too cute around the strike zone, as he has the really annoying habit of doing this when he is up in the count.
Redmond looks like he could be a good fifth starter for the rest of the 2013 season and hold that spot through spring training into next season. If he is able to build more good innings over the remainder of this year and find a comfort level in the no. 5 spot in the rotation, I see no reason why Redmond would not be a terrific answer to part of the Blue Jays’ pitching problems.
Christopher Renshall is a Blue Jays writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CRenshall, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
