Bullpen Report: April 29, 2018

After blowing his third save of the season on Thursday, Fernando Rodney came back out for another opportunity on Saturday against the Reds and converted. Don’t get too excited, it wasn’t easy. The first hitter – Scott Schebler – took a walk on four pitches, all of them well inside and not close. Adam Duvall would end up flying out on the next at-bat after getting down 0-2. With one out and a man on first, Devin Mesoraco came up and watched Rodney miss badly on three-of-five pitches on his way to yet another base on balls for Rodney. With the tying run now on base and only one out, the Reds brought Tucker Barnhart off the bench to pinch-hit for Billy Hamilton.

Rodney would miss on two-straight change-ups before coming back and tallying strikes on fastballs on the inside-and-outside corner. With the count 2-2, Barnhart flared a 97 mph fastball over the heart of the plate towards centerfield that was snatched by Brian Dozier. It was a difficult play. With the game hanging in the balance, Jesse Winker came up to the plate. He would immediately pop-out to third base to help Rodney and the Twins escape the jam.

Heading into the outing, Rodney for the season had seen improvements in F-Strike%, and BB/9 (2.7) while maintaining a strong SwStr% (10) and K/9 (10.8). His biggest challenger for closing duties – Addison Reed – did his job and secured his fourth hold of the season on Saturday. Reed is beating Rodney by a small margin in SIERA, BB/9, and SwStr%, but owns a sizeable lead in the ERA/WHIP categories. Reed isn’t blowing people away – he sits around 91 mph — but his command is far superior to Rodney’s. Despite most fantasy owners wanting a change to be made here, there’s a genuine possibility that it may not happen for a while, if at all. The underlying skills show a closer gap between the two, and Reed isn’t dominating as much as perception would indicate.

Brad Boxberger converted his second save chance in as many days against the Nationals. Much like Fernando Rodney, the save did not come easy. He started things off with two change-ups to Matt Wieters – both strikes – with the second one resulting in a groundout to open the inning. Trea Turner came up next and took three-straight pitches (all fastballs, two for strikes) before swinging and missing at strike three on the black for the second out. This is when things got interesting. Ryan Zimmerman worked a nine-pitch at-bat – fouling off three with two strikes – on his way to a double down the leftfield line on a 3-2 count. Bryce Harper would be intentionally walked and Zimmerman was pinch-run for to give the Nationals the best chance to tie the game with a single.

Howie Kendrick came to the plate and let Boxberger do the work for him. He missed badly on a fastball in the dirt to give Kendrick the advantage, and then proceeded to dive a change-up in almost the same spot on pitch two. A mound visit occurred, then Boxberger once again dropped a change-up in the dirt before missing way outside with a fastball to walk Kendrick and load the bases. Michael Taylor came up with the bases loaded, two outs, and the Nationals down by one – it didn’t go well. After all the pressure that had been building up, Boxberger got bailed out by Taylor swinging at a first-pitch fastball that was low and outside the strike zone, resulting in a groundout to end the game. Boxberger has only registered one clean outing in his last six. Archie Bradley and Yoshihisa Hirano both delivered spotless appearances, but are currently not candidates to take over the role at this time. Boxberger’s results have been solid, and he’s now 8-for-8 in save chances.

Quick Hits
Pitching for the third day in-a-row, Kelvin Herrera converted a save chance against the White Sox and is now 5-for-5 in save chances on the year. He’s yet to allow a walk and his skills have been tremendous (2.19 xFIP, 32% K/BB%). He’s likely a trade candidate at some point and won’t get a ton of save opportunities in the meantime, but for now he’s a solid mid-tier closer option in mixed leagues.

Josh Fields came in for the eighth inning of a 15-5 game in favor of the Dodgers. In his appearance he gave up a solo-home run to Nick Hundley, followed by a single to Kelby Tomlinson. He would retire the next three hitters in order. He’s still the likely replacement for Kenley Jansen should the time come to make a change.

Hunter Strickland helped seal a win for the Giants by getting two outs in the ninth inning. He entered with two on and one out, then proceeded to strike out Kyle Farmer and get Matt Kemp to ground out to end the game.

Jose Alvarado got four outs – two via strikeout – in a game that was well in hand for the Rays.

After not pitching since Tuesday, Roberto Osuna gave up 1 ER on 3 H in a non-save situation against the Rangers. He’s in no danger of losing his job. His SIERA is almost identical to what he posted in 2017 (2.69, 2.27 in ’17).

On the other side of the diamond, Keone Kela came on in the ninth inning to get a one-out save against the Blue Jays. Kevin Pillar homered off Kevin Jepsen earlier in the inning to create the save chance In the first place. It was Kela’s second day on the mound in-a-row, third-straight clean appearance, and sixth conversion in as many tries.

Arodys Vizcaino converted his third-straight save chance in the Braves victory over the Phillies. He faced four hitters and struck out three.

Shane Greene came on in a non-save situation against the Orioles, facing five hitters, striking out two, and allowing two baserunners. His job remains safe.

Kyle Barraclough — not Brad Ziegler – came on to convert his first save of the season and second save of his career against the Rockies. He struck out three – two of them via fastball – with his lone baserunner being a HBP on David Dahl. No word as of yet as to why Ziegler wasn’t called upon, but he continues to get an insane amount of grounders (72%) as well as an uptick in SwStr% and K/9. The Marlins don’t come with too many save chances attached to them, so if they’re mix-and-matching then all of their relievers will only be useful for ratios.

Jeurys Familia needed 12 pitches to get two flyouts and a groundout in a non-save chance against the Padres. He will likely not be available today as he’s going to a memorial service for his father-in-law.

Sean Doolittle threw 9-of-13 pitches for strikes on his way to a 1-2-3 inning (non-save situation). Ryan Madson struggled in front of him tonight, but would likely get the nod if/when Dolittle goes down.