Bullpen Report: September 1, 2016

Short and sweet for this four game slate…

Unfortunately for the Atlanta Braves, Arodys Vizcaino is back on the shelf with shoulder inflammation. Fortunately for the Braves and fake baseballers alike, veteran Jim Johnson still has some gas in the tank. August was kind to the 33 year-old right-hander, who picked up saves in 7-of-8 chances with an 18:2 K:BB while allowing just one earned run. And he started off September on the right foot as well. The Braves entered the final frame of tonight’s tilt with the Padres up five runs, but summoned Johnson to the hill to end the Friars’ three-run rally and pick up his 14th save of the season. For a guy that’s green, induces worm burners over 57% of the time and owns a career best 16.4% K-BB%, Jim Johnson should be owned in a few more than 50% of Y! Formats at this point in the season — unless most of those folks at the bottom of the barrell have moved on….

Brandon Kintzler surrendered a hit, but fanned one en route to his 13th save of the season in 14 opportunities. Kintzler needed 14 pitches (10 strikes — five called, two swinging) to seal the 8-5 victory for the Twinkies over the White Sox. While the strikeouts and peripherals are lagging, Kintzler currently owns the best ground ball (63.5% GB%) rate and ERA (1.87) of his career. Green.

Carl Edwards, Jr. notched the first save of his big league career this evening in a 5-4 Cubbies win over the Giants. Edwards needed just 13 pitches (10 strikes — four called, one swinging) to fan Hunter Pence and induce a pair of groundouts off the bats of Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik. Skipper Joe Maddon called on the youngster with Aroldis Chapman racking up 44 pitches over the last two days — including 31 in Wednesday’s shaky outing. Chapman green.

Quick Hitters: Chris Withrow of the Braves and Joe Smith of the Cubs have been activated from the 15-day disabled list, with no immediate impact to the grid. The Cubs wasted no time putting Smith back on the bump, using him for a pair of innings, striking out a trio of Giants to pick up the victory. Will Smith (15) and George Kontos (8) of the Giants along with Kyle Barraclough (26) of the Marlins picked up holds this evening. Entering tonight, Addison Reed (31), Neftali Feliz (29) and Hector Neris (27) led the first division in holds among current non-closers (Betances also has 27 holds).

Closer Grid:

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