Bullpen Report: May 20, 2015

Drew Storen recorded his 12th save of the year on 15 pitches tonight for the Nationals. Storen is now 12-of-13 in save chances this season and lowered his ERA to 1.04, while his FIP sits at 1.41 in just over 17 frames on the bump. Storen’s K-BB% is currently a career best, possibly due to the slight uptick in velocity, but definitely thanks to a career-best swinging strike rate of 14.5%.

On 10 pitches — eight strikes and two balls — Jonathan Papelbon retired the Rockies in the home half of the ninth-inning to pick up his 11th save of the year in as many chances. The Phillies’ closer fanned two this evening, raising his strikeout rate to 31.5% on the year, while allowing just about 5.5% of opposing batters to reach via the free pass, none of which occurred in tonight’s effort. Outside of being rumored to be on the move in a potential trade at some point this year — even though, that may be a good thing for the 34-year-old closer — Papelbon is putting together a fine season.

His velocity looks pretty consistent with career averages, he’s nailing the first-pitch strike (65.7%) better than he has in his career (63.9%), he’s inducing more swinging strikes (14.6% SwStr%) than he’s averaged during his career (13.4% SwStr%) and he’s luring batters to chase pitches outside of the strike zone (38.4% O-Swing%) better than his career rates (34.9% O-Swing%). If the Phillies are dealing, there’s a lot of teams that could use this version of Papelbon right now and down the stretch.

Both Jim Johnson and Jason Grilli got in some work for the Braves tonight. Johnson, a closer in his previous life and current set-up man in Atlanta, allowed Logan Forsythe to reach on balls, but struck out one and escaped the inning without any damage done. Johnson does have a couple of saves to his name this year, so he can be rostered in deeper formats for those speculating saves based on experience. But he’s the type of guy I’d leave on the bench and slide him into the RP if I know Jason Grilli won’t be available. Speaking of, Grilli also allowed a hit and struck out one in a 14-pitch effort that resulted in his 12th save of the season. The 38-year-old closer is now 12-of-13 in save chances with a 4.73 ERA and a 2.39 FIP.

Quick Hitters: Shawn Tolleson labored a bit, but notched his first save of the season in a 21-pitch outing. He should be added in most formats. Fernando Rodney and Cody Allen each struggled tonight, but managed to pick up their 10th and 8th saves on the season respectfully. Joakim Soria surrendered a leadoff double off the bat of Aramis Ramirez, induced a couple of ground outs and a fly out to notch his 13th save of the season on 18 pitches. Glen Perkins (15) and Huston Street also picked up saves this evening.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	DL/Minors
Arizona	Brad Ziegler	Enrique Burgos	Addison Reed	Evan Marshall
Atlanta	Jason Grilli	Jim Johnson	Cody Martin
Baltimore	Zach Britton	Darren O’Day	Tommy Hunter
Boston	Koji Uehara	Alexi Ogando	Junichi Tazawa
CHI (NL)	Hector Rondon	Pedro Strop	Jason Motte
CHI (AL)	David Robertson	Jacob Petricka	Zach Duke
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jumbo Diaz	Tony Cingrani	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Cody Allen	Bryan Shaw	Scott Atchison
Colorado	John Axford	Rafael Betancourt	Boone Logan	Adam Ottavino
Detroit	Joakim Soria	Joba Chamberlain	Angel Nesbitt	Joe Nathan
Houston	Luke Gregerson	Chad Qualls	Pat Neshek
KC	Greg Holland	Wade Davis	Kelvin Herrera
LAA	Huston Street	Joe Smith	Vinnie Pestano
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Yimi Garcia	Chris Hatcher	Pedro Baez
Miami	A.J. Ramos	Bryan Morris	Mike Dunn	Steve Cishek
Milwaukee	Francisco Rodriguez	Jonathan Broxton	Will Smith
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Brian Duensing	Blaine Boyer	Casey Fien
NY (NL)	Jeurys Familia	Carlos Torres	Sean Gilmartin	Jenrry Mejia
NY (AL)	Andrew Miller	Dellin Betances	Justin Wilson	Chris Martin
Oakland	Tyler Clippard	Evan Scribner	Dan Otero	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Ken Giles	Luis Garcia
Pittsburgh	Mark Melancon	Tony Watson	Arquimedes Caminero
St. Louis	Trevor Rosenthal	Seth Maness	Matt Belisle	Jordan Walden
SD	Craig Kimbrel	Joaquin Benoit	Dale Thayer
SF	Santiago Casilla	Sergio Romo	Jeremy Affeldt
Seattle	Fernando Rodney	Danny Farquhar	Carson Smith
TB	Brad Boxberger	Jake McGee	Kevin Jepsen
Texas	Shawn Tolleson	Keone Kela	Neftali Feli	Tanner Scheppers
Toronto	Brett Cecil	Roberto Osuna	Steve Delabar	Miguel Castro
Wash.	Drew Storen	Aaron Barrett	Tanner Roark	Casey Janssen

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