Keith Law, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Padres strike prospect gold flipping Drew Pomeranz to Red Sox

The Red Sox needed a starter -- really, they needed two, so now they need just one -- but even though they got a good one, they paid a huge price by surrendering their top pitching prospect, one of the best young arms in all of minor league baseball.

Drew Pomeranz has become a different guy this year with the addition of a hard cutter to his arsenal. It’s a pitch that misses bats and has made his fastball more effective as well because hitters can't time it and square it up so easily. The fifth overall pick way back in 2010 by Cleveland, now traded for the fourth time in his career, Pomeranz had a big curveball but a rough delivery, and never developed enough of a changeup to get right-handed batters out multiple times per game. Prior to 2016, right-handers hit .242/.325/.396 against him, while he held lefties to a .184/.265/.251 line. This year, he has shown no platoon split thanks to the introduction of the cutter, and he could probably drop the changeup completely and just use those three pitches instead.

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