Bullpen Report: April 13, 2017

This evening’s edition of the Bullpen Report is much more of a routine fly-out than the previous week or so — lucky me. A combination of a short(er) slate and closers already in the green getting their work in are to thank as I write this. There have been some minor changes to the chart based on the work of the previous writers and the helpful notes from some of the commenters. Thanks folks.

Kelvin Herrera took to the hill for the third time the season as the Royals’ closer. The right-hander surrendered a leadoff homer to Rajai Davis and a subsequent double off the bat of Jed Lowrie, but induced a trio of worm burners to seal the Kansas City victory and notch his first save of the season. While it’s still extremely early in the season and we are cautious with sample sizes, Herrera’s velocity looks to be within striking distance of ‘16’s efforts, however, he’s not missing as many bats (9.4% SwStr% vs. career 13.1% SwStr%) resulting in just one strikeout over 12 batters faced. Everything is green in Kansas City and we’ll learn if Herrera’s lack of strikeouts are indeed “woes” as the season continues to unfold.

In Toronto, Baltimore’s Zach Britton gave up a one-out single followed by a free pass, but managed to escape unscathed to convert his fourth save of the season in a 2-1 victory. Britton needed 18 pitches (11 strikes, two of which were swings-and-misses) to successfully convert his 53rd consecutive save dating back to September 20th of 2015. Not bad! Darren O’Day (1) appeared in the seventh-inning followed by Brad Brach (4) in the eighth, each picking up holds for their efforts. All green in Baltimore.

Greg Holland (6), Craig Kimbrel (3) and Aroldis Chapman (2) each notched saves tonight. Despite allowing a pair of hits and a walk, Holland remains a perfect 6-for-6 in save chances to start the season in his new uniform. Craig Kimbrel allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Adam Frazier but the induced a fly-out, a groundout and caught Frazier stealing second to seal Boston’s 4-3 win over Pittsburgh and Kimbrel’s third save in as many chances this young season.

Adam Ottavino (5) is your current holds leader.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Fernando Rodney	JJ Hoover	Randall Delgado
Atlanta	Jim Johnson	Arodys Vizcaino	Jose Ramirez	Mauricio Cabrera
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Brad Brach	Darren O’Day
Boston	Craig Kimbrel	Joe Kelly	Heath Hembree	Carson Smith
CHI (NL)	Wade Davis	Pedro Strop	Koji Uehara
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Nate Jones	Dan Jennings
Cincy	Raisel Iglesias	Michael Lorenzen	Drew Storen
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Andrew Miller	Bryan Shaw
Colorado	Greg Holland	Adam Ottavino	Mike Dunn
Detroit	Francisco Rodriguez	Justin Wilson	Joe Jimenez
Houston	Ken Giles	Luke Gregerson	Will Harris
KC	Kelvin Herrera	Joakim Soria	Peter Moylan
LAA	Cam Bedrosian	Andrew Bailey	J.C. Ramirez	Huston Street
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Sergio Romo	Grant Dayton
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Brad Ziegler	Kyle Barraclough
Milwaukee	Neftali Feliz	Corey Knebel	Carlos Torres>
Minnesota	Brandon Kintzler	Matt Belisle	Ryan Pressly	Glen Perkins
NY (NL)	Addison Reed	Fernando Salas	Hansel Robles	Jeurys Familia
NY (AL)	Aroldis Chapman	Dellin Betances	Tyler Clippard
Oakland	Santiago Casilla	Sean Doolittle	Ryan Dull
Philly	Joaquin Benoit	Hector Neris	Jeanmar Gomez
Pittsburgh	Tony Watson	Daniel Hudson	Felipe Rivero
St. Louis	Seung Hwan Oh	Trevor Rosenthal	Kevin Siegrist
SD	Brandon Maurer	Ryan Buchter	Brad Hand	Carter Capps
SF	Mark Melancon	Hunter Strickland	Derek Law
Seattle	Edwin Diaz	Dan Altavilla	Nick Vincent	Steve Cishek
TB	Alex Colome	Danny Farquhar	Erasmo Ramirez	Brad Boxberger
Texas	Sam Dyson	Jose Leclerc	Tony Barnette
Toronto	Roberto Osuna	Jason Grilli	Joe Biagini
Wash.	Blake Treinen	Koda Glover	Shawn Kelley

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]