It’s no secret that Lance Lynn is struggling. The White Sox starter’s ERA has ballooned up to 7.92. His numbers have gotten Dallas Keuchel level bad.
Lynn’s walk rate places him in the bottom 42 percentile in the MLB. According to Baseball Savant, he also ranks in the 38th percentile in average exit velocity, 20th in expected slugging and expected batting average, and 18th in hard-hit percentage.
Opponents are hitting .309 off of him, and he only has one start where he has made it into the sixth inning despite being considered the staff’s workhorse.
Steve Stone usually likes to play the optimist on Twitter regarding White Sox-related topics. But on Monday, he did not hold back when asked about Lance Lynn’s struggles on the mound this season.
During an interview with Parkins and Spiegel on Tuesday, the White Sox color commentator alluded to the fact that Lance Lynn is struggling with the new rules because he is out of shape.
“Maybe if cardiovascularly it’s bothering him with the pitch clock, maybe a couple of salads would help,” Stone said. “Somewhere along the line, I’m thinking, and I don’t know if he’s having problems with that, if that is a problem, then maybe if you improve your cardiovascular, losing a couple of pounds or doing whatever he’s going to do to work out. Again, I don’t know how much he can do with the leg problems he’s had in the past, and that’s a very big factor.”
Even Prakins and Spiegel could not believe what they heard as they both turned to each other and laughed in disbelief.
Former White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski quickly ran to Lynn’s defense of Twitter, writing, “Bad take! He should tune into @FoulTerritoryTV to hear what Lance said today about the pitch clock.”
Pierzynski is the co-host of the new baseball Podcast Foul Territory, a show that has had Lynn on multiple times as a guest, including on Tuesday. The podcast posted a clip from their show in the video’s replies, with Lynn easily refuting Steve Stone’s pitch clock theory.
“If there’s something new and you struggle, their going to blame that or say that’s the issue. That’s just the way it is. I’ve never even paid attention to the clock. When the clock came in this offseason, they were like, ‘Hey, here’s your normal times. You’re not going to be a problem.’ So it’s not something that I’ve worried about. It’s not something that I’ve concentrated on in bullpens or anything like that.
The problem right now is I’m not executing pitches in situations with runners on base, and I’ve given up multiple runs in big innings because I haven’t thrown the ball where I have wanted to.”
Lynn also said later on the podcast that the sweeper he added to try and complimate his fastball is not helping at all, even going as far as to say, “That pitch can fuck right off.” It was his sweeper that got crushed by Cavan Biggio for a three run homer in Monday’s game aginast the Blue Jays.
Steve Stone is one of the smartest baseball analysts in the business. He has been around the game for a long time and watches almost every White Sox game. He, of all people, should know that Lance Lynn works fast, and his struggles have nothing to do with the pitch clock. If you read between the lines, it sounds like Stone is just finding a nice way to call Lynn fat.
