Boston Red Sox: Felix Doubront Is Very Frustrating to Watch Sometimes

Kelley L.Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Red Sox have had a huge amount of success and have led their division for almost the entire year. A lot of the reason that they have been doing so well is because of the success of the starting pitching.

The rotation has consistently pitched well, and have 82 quality starts and a 3.74 ERA as of this weekend. One of the big performers in their rotation has been Felix Doubront.

However, sometime he can be the most frustrating pitcher to watch because of his inconsistency.

Doubront made himself known in 2012 when he went 11-10 and showed some flashes of potential. One of the reasons it was difficult watching some of his games last year is that he would have such high pitch counts to the point where he would have to be taken out in the fourth or fifth inning.

Last year was understandable as that was his first full year as a regular starting pitcher and there would be some learning curve. This year, he turned the corner by being a lot more efficient with his pitches, but it still seems that his inconsistency shows up from inning to inning.

In the game against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, he looked great for the first three innings and into the fourth inning, but just couldn’t get that final out. His struggle seemed to come almost out of nowhere. Sometimes it looks like he is trying to be too perfect and nibbling at the corners, and that’s when he seems to get into some trouble.

Doubront can make it look so easy sometimes and for a good part of this season, he picked up a lot of the slack when Clay Buchholz was injured. He can sometime look like a younger version of Andy Petitte in terms of his motion, but sometimes regresses to being the guy who couldn’t get through four innings last year.

That is what he looked like today. Doubront can be a very good left-handed starter, which can be a rare commodity. But if Boston is going to be heading into the postseason, the entire rotation needs to be running on all cylinders. And with Buchholz potentially coming back, someone is going to have to sit.

If he has more outings like today, Doubront could be the odd man out.

Carter Roane is a Boston Red Sox writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter@CarterGRoane, “Like”him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.