The Josh Winckowski offseason changes

When Josh Winckowski returned home to the Fort Myers area after last season, he did some reflecting. There were a few aspects of his performance during his rookie season that he liked — but the list was short.

Rather than just accepting that a 5.89 ERA over 15 appearances (14 starts) was what he would be as a major league pitcher, Winckowski got to work and spent the offseason retooling nearly every part of his game at the JetBlue Park facilities.

He developed a new grip on his slider, sharpened his cutter, increased his sinker usage, changed his windup and altered his mental approach.

“We all collectively challenged him over the offseason and said you can just come in here and work out, or you can try to change your career in a significant way,” said Dan DeLucia, the Red Sox minor league rehab pitching coach based in Fort Myers. “He’s a competitive guy and he was very open to the challenge.”

So far the work has paid off.

In five spring outings, including three starts, Winckowski allowed just two earned runs over 16 innings while striking out 17 and walking four. When the season began, the Red Sox slid him into the bullpen, partly because he proved an ability to bounce back quickly between outings. His success has carried over. Over the first week of the season, Winckowski proved his versatility and durability by pitching one-inning, two-inning and three-inning stints, allowing one run on four hits while striking out seven and walking one. Sunday, he pitched a scoreless inning in Boston’s 4-1 win over the Detroit Tigers, lowering his ERA to 1.29.

While Winckowski’s arm wasn’t quite ready to start throwing yet in late October, the first couple months of the offseason focused on lower body workouts to get a more stable base so he could repeat his delivery down the mound consistently.

In playing light catch with Winckowski over the first month or so of working together, DeLucia noticed that Winckowski would go over his head with his hands and was able to gather himself better to hit his target. The windup wasn’t something Winckowski normally did off the mound, so later in the winter when Winckowski started throwing bullpens, DeLucia suggested trying the windup action and it clicked, allowing Winckowski to be more consistent through his delivery on every pitch.