Bullpen Report: May 26, 2016
Closer controversy in Houston, anyone? Maybe soon, but maybe not just yet. Ken Giles earned the nod in the ninth tonight with Luke Gregerson unavailable thanks to a combined 43 pitches in the last two evenings. Giles, who came over to Houston in the blockbuster offseason deal with Philadelphia, surrendered an earned run on a pair of singles but held on to notch his first save as an Astro.
Tonight’s earned run follows a series of nine consecutive scoreless appearances for the right-hander since apparently correcting a mechanical flaw with hand placement that allowed hitters to see the fastball out of his hand longer than before. Giles definitely struggled in March/April, posting a 9.00 ERA (6.69 FIP) with a 19.2% K-BB% while May’s 1.93 ERA (1.59 FIP) and 23.7% K-BB% along with a spike in velocity lead us to believe he may just have figured this pitching thing out. Luke Gregerson is 10-of-13 in save situations this season with a 3.32 ERA (2.21 FIP) and a 16.1% K-BB%. Gregerson sure doesn’t have the velocity or strikeout rates Giles does (when pitching well), but a change in the ninth-inning role may not be on the horizon just yet.
Things are very green for Roberto Osuna in Toronto right now. The young right-hander fanned a pair of Yankees in a clean frame of work (15 pitches – four swinging strikes) to pick up his 10th save of the season. The 21-year-old is now 10-of-11 in save opportunities this season with a 1.29 ERA (2.09 FIP) and striking out 10.71 batters per nine innings. Off topic note: As of Friday, the Blue Jays’ closer will no longer be the youngest pitcher in baseball with 19-year-old Julio Urias of the Dodgers expected to make his debut against the Metropolitans.
Carlos Torres picked up his second save of the year with Jeremy Jeffress and Tyler Thornburg unavailable. Both Jeffress and Thornburg appeared the last two days in a row while the former tripped to the bump in the three of the last four. All that nonsense aside, Torres notched the two-inning save (31 pitches – six called and two swinging strikes) while allowing one free pass and striking out one Brave.
Not the youngest pitcher in the league, Jonathan Papelbon, converted his 13th save of the season in an eight pitch effort for the Nationals. While he’s still picking up saves, hit strikeouts per nine (6.62) and SwStr% (9.4%) are the lowest of his career and walks per nine (2.55) is the most he’s allowed since his 2010 season with the Red Sox. Velocity seems to be down a tick as well on each of his offerings, but Pap is still notching those saves in Washington and remains green.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
In addition to contributing to the RotoGraphs blog, you can find Alan at his own site, TheFantasyFix.com and follow his nonsense on Twitter @TheFantasyFix.
Torres only pitched the 9th because his team scored two in the top of the inning to make it a four-run lead. With a two-run lead he would have been pulled.