Here are 4 things to know about new Red Sox pitcher Garrett Richards

January 24, 2021 | 2:51 p.m.

The Red Sox added another arm to their rotation on Saturday. They agreed with veteran pitcher Garrett Richards on a one-year contract with an option for a second year.

Richards, 32, comes to Boston with 10 years of major league experience under his belt. The right-hander began his career with the Los Angeles Angels, playing there from 2011 to 2018. After eight seasons in Los Angeles, Richards remained in California, signing a two-year contract with the Padres ahead of the 2019 season.

Here are four things to know about the Red Sox’s latest addition.

Richards does much better against right-handed hitters than against left-handed hitters.

In baseball, it is generally believed that right handed pitchers have the upper hand over hitters hitting from the same side of the plate.

This is the case with Richards.

Last season, right-handed hitters had a .589 basing percentage plus stroke percentage (OPS) against Richards, well below .740 OPS around the majors in 2020. Righties also had a .189 batting average. against Richards in 2020.

The left-handed hitters were much better because they had an OPS of .853 and a batting average of .296 against Richards in 2020.

Richards’ two best throws are his fastball and his slider.

Richards is a tough pitcher. His four-seam fastball had an average speed of 153 km / h in 2020 and peaked at 160 km / h.

Richards relied more than ever on his four-seam fastball in 2020, throwing it in 46.3% of his throws. Batters had a decent success against Richards’ fastball last season. They had a .276 batting average and a 15% odor rate against Richards’ fastball in 2020.

Richards saw more success when he used his slider, which he threw in 37.8% of his throws in 2020. The batters had a batting average of .147 against Richards’ slider, while swinging and missing 39.5% of them.

In addition to the fastball and slider, Richards also launched sinkers and curve balls in 2020.

Richards has a long history of injury.

Injuries haven’t been kind to Richards during his 10-year career.

Richards’ first major injury came in 2014 while he was with the Angels. While pitching against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Richards had to be kicked off the field after running to first base to complete a double play. The injury ended up being a torn patellar tendon, forcing him to miss the rest of the game. the 2014 season.

Richards made his comeback almost eight months later, joining the Angels weeks after the start of the 2015 season. Once he was activated from the disabled roster in April of that year, Richards had a clean health check for the rest of the season. He was 15-12 with a 3.65 ERA for this season.

After the clean season of 2015, Richards’ last three seasons with the Angels have been marked by injuries. He only made six starts in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In 2016, he was diagnosed with a torn ligament in his right arm, but elected not to have Tommy John’s surgery.

In July 2018, Richards left a game against the Mariners early due to irritation in his right arm. It was discovered that he had a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow the next day. Richards underwent surgery on Tommy John around this time, which ended his 2018 season and ultimately his stint with the Angels.

Richards has some control issues with his locations.

While the use of a fastball and a slider to control hitters has brought success to Richards during his career, those pitches have certainly had their drawbacks as well.

The veteran pitcher has led the American League over wild lands three times in his career. In 2014, a season in which Richards missed more than a month of action, Richards threw 22 wild shots, which was actually the greatest in all of baseball.

Richards retained his American League and All-Baseball title again in 2015. He has pitched 17 wild shots this season. He led the league on wild lands again in 2018. Richards had 15 wild fields this season, during which he missed the last two and a half months due to Tommy John’s surgery.