Bullpen Report: June 18, 2019

Owning Raisel Iglesias comes with its ups and downs. His multiple inning usage can cap save totals year to year, but he’s saved 71 since the start of 2017. Last night, Iglesias once again struggled with his command leading to his removal from the game in the ninth inning without recording a save. Instead, Iglesias gets his second hold of the season to the dismay of his owners. In the eighth inning, Iglesias entered with a runner on base and one out. He induced a pop out to shortstop by Robinson Chirinos but walked Tyler White in the next at-bat. Iglesias ended the inning on a Tony Kemp ground out and returned for the ninth inning. But, he walked lead-off hitter Myles Straw then retired Alex Bregman on a pop out to first base.

However, Michael Lorenzen replaced Iglesias to face Michael Brantley and Yordan Alvarez, two left-handed hitters. It’s worth noting all four home runs yielded by Iglesias this year occurred versus left-handed batters and they own a .355 weighted on-base average against him. Perhaps this played a role in Lorenzen taking over, or just a gut call by the Reds staff. Lorenzen did retire Brantley and Alvarez for his third save, his first since May first. This does not signal a changing of the guard, rather a game to note how Iglesias was utilized. He’s logged more than three outs in three of his last six appearances and converted seven straight saves. But, Iglesias also has issued two walks in back-to-back outings and in three of his last five translating to six walks in only four innings this month.

As for Lorenzen, he’s accrued the most innings for the Reds bullpen this season with 15 games recording more than three outs. He can be feast or famine in high leverage opportunities, but owns a 12:0 K:BB through 7.2 innings in June with a 3.52 ERA and 0.52 WHIP. Amir Garrett also recorded his 11th hold despite allowing two hits in two-thirds of an inning. Over his last 13 games, Garrett’s racked up 22 strikeouts within his last 40 outs. He’s also racked up 30 strikeouts over his last 18 appearances with a 52.9 ground ball percentage, a 2.14 xFIP but a 1.33 WHIP. Things remain status quo in the Reds bullpen for now, but Iglesias owners will want to see him cut down on the free passes going forward to protect his ratio statistics.

Preserving a shutout win in Minnesota, the Red Sox turned to Ryan Brasier, fresh off the bereavement list for the save opportunity. Brasier responded with a clean ninth needing only 11 pitches to retire C.J. Cron, Marwin Gonzalez and Miguel Sano. This marks Brasier’s first save since April 21st and seventh of the season. Within the Red Sox recap, beat writer Peter Abraham noted Brandon Workman was unavailable for this contest after working in four of the previous five games. Plus, Alex Cora did not want to use Matt Barnes or Marcus Walden either if possible. So, Brasier along with Colten Brewer provided much needed rest for the bullpen unit in this game. Whether or not Brasier will continue to get high leverage chances remains to be seen. All we seem to know about this bullpen is it will remain fluid.

In a much needed outing, Blake Treinen notched his 16th save with a clean ninth striking out one. This signals back-to-back clean appearances for Treinen and he’s converted his last 10 save chances. However, in this stretch, Treinen owns a 4.11 ERA, 4.87 xFIP and 1.57 WHIP during his last 15.1 innings with 14 strikeouts versus eight walks. He’s also generated a 40 percent ground ball rate as owners try to assess how to view Treinen going forward. More outings like this one will assuage his owners but keep tabs on the walk percentage and his ratios. Liam Hendriks gets his sixth hold firing 1.1 clean innings of relief with a strikeout. He’s on a bit of a heater with 18 of his last 19 relief outings being scoreless. This does not include the two earned runs allowed as an opener on May 25th. However, over his last 22.1 innings, Hendriks owns a 1.21 ERA, a 28:9 K:BB and 1.07 WHIP dating back to the start of May. Just note the disparity of his FIP (2.01) and xFIP (4.52) to arrive at an ERA between them going forward.

After Anthony Bass coughed up a two-run home run to Jorge Soler resulting in his second blown save in the eighth inning in Seattle, this opened the door for an Ian Kennedy save chance. Kennedy responded with his eighth save this year and his sixth in a row for the Royals. Riding a hot streak, Kennedy’s only yielded one earned run in 5.1 innings in June with 10 strikeouts versus one walk. It’s a small sample, but Kennedy’s produced a 38:5 K:BB so far through 29 innings. Jake Diekman secured his 10th hold giving up a hit with two strikeouts and Brian Flynn gets his first win this year working two innings allowing a hit and a walk with four strikeouts.

With so many bullpens in shared roles or disarray, an appreciation paragraph for both Kirby Yates and Will Smith seems in order. Starting with Yates, he recorded his major league leading 25th save on Monday night firing a clean ninth inning striking out one. He’s converted each save opportunity this year and sits one shy of tying the Padres team record for saves in the first half set by Heath Bell (26 in 2011). Dating back to August 28th of 2018, Yates has saved 32 straight contests. Within this sample, he’s pitched 43 innings with a 1.47 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 36.6 strikeouts minus walks percentage fueled by a 72:12 K:BB. If for some reason he enters the trade market, San Diego could get quite a haul from a contender.

Already rumored to be on the trade block, Will Smith surged to his 19th straight save this season striking out two in a clean ninth inning in Los Angeles. Smith’s appeared in seven of the Giants last 10 games with six saves in them. He’s held opponents scoreless in 17 of his last 20 outings and since June 29th last year, converted 33 of 36 save chances. Over his last 59.2 innings, since taking over as closer, Smith owns a 2.86 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 30.6 strikeouts minus walks percentage and an 84:15 K:BB for San Francisco. Racking up saves against the Brewers and Dodgers in recent days should only enhance his trade stock.

Quick Hits: Working as the “bulk” reliever, Felix Pena won his fifth decision this year. Pena’s appeared after an opener in nine of his last 10 games with a 4.81 ERA and 45:10 K:BB in 43 innings…Daniel Hudson got work in but walked two batters in a scoreless top of the ninth. It’s his first action in five days since his save versus Baltimore on the 12th. Do note his four walks in five innings in June along with the potential return of Ken Giles, if healthy, in the next few days…Ryan Pressly recorded three strikeouts along with giving up a hit in a scoreless outing in Cincinnati. He leads the American League in holds with 18 and his 37:4 K:BB helps protect ratio stats in deeper leagues…Another tough night for the Mets bullpen raising the team ERA (5.47) for its relievers to third highest in the majors. Jeurys Familia loaded the bases on a hit and two walks before being lifted. He gets charged with three earned runs when Drew Gagnon let all three inherited runners score. Then, Gagnon allowed four earned runs of his own on five hits and three walks having to wear it in a loss to Atlanta…With only a two run lead in the top of the seventh, prior to the implosions by New York, Jacob Webb walked one in two-thirds of an inning for his sixth hold. A.J. Minter recorded the last out of the inning but also walked a batter for his fourth hold…Getting in work, Jose LeClerc coughed up a home run to Oscar Mercado in the top of the eighth inning. LeClerc did strikeout one but he’s allowed a run in four of his last six outings…Blake Parker continues to drift from high leverage yielding two hits and an earned run. He’s given up runs in two of his last three and in four of his last six contests boosting his ERA to 12.00 in June over six innings…Under the radar, Giovanny Gallegos recorded his fourth hold allowing a hit with two strikeouts. He’s recorded at least one strikeout in 23 of his 27 appearances this year and multiple strikeouts in 17 of these outings. Also, Gallegos has turned in nine straight scoreless games spanning 12 innings dating back to May 26th. John Gant notched his 10th hold working around a hit for a scoreless eighth and Jordan Hicks fired a clean ninth with a five run lead.