Sasquatch: Lefty Closers
Watching for Sasquatch is less rewarding then betting on a lefty closer, but that isn’t to say that managers don’t prefer righty closers. Ceding the platoon advantage to three-quarters of the league in the ninth inning seems like a bad idea unless you really have something in your lefty.
So how often does the lefty closer happen in baseball? Answer: not as often as it should.
Lefties make up about a quarter of the pitcher population in baseball. Of the 1234 relievers that have accrued more than 15 saves in the free agency era, only 145 have been lefties. That’s only about 11.8%, or about half what you might expect.
The platoon closer is rare, but it does exist, and a few lefties might have gotten 15 saves in a committee. What about superlative lefty closers? It gets worse at the top. 10 of the 145 15+ lefty saves guys managed 40 saves (6.9%). Of the 1088 righty closers with more than 15 saves, 137 accrued 40 saves (12.6%). So it looks like, even when a manager trusts a lefty to close, maybe he doesn’t trust them all the way.
Randy Myers was one of the best, and in 1993, he saved 53 games. He was the only lefty to ever manage more than 50 saves. In 1997, he added another 45. Brian Fuentes was a good one, but Billy Wagner was better. Dave Righetti, John Franco, Eddie Guardado and Mitch Williams are the only other closers that managed to save 15+ more than four times… Well, there’s Dan Plesac and Dave LaRoche, too. Jessie Orosco, too, but he slide into LOOGY-dom fairly quickly. John Rocker… yeah.
The point is, only two or three of these guys were dominant and remained closers their whole careers. The lefty closer is, indeed, rare.
In the case of the Chicago pen that started this mini-series so far (we tackled saves on bad teams from two angles yesterday), it might be true that James Russell is out in front for the job right now. With a 4.73 career FIP (3.70 this year), he doesn’t have the lights-out resume of the elite lefty closers. And with a 5.33/3.91 righty/lefty platoon split, he might not even be a great LOOGY.
In the higher-quality case of the Angels pen, it’s not as obvious. Scott Downs has never been a LOOGY, and his overall FIP has been under 3.4 since 2007 — he’s a better pitcher with a lesser platoon split (4.18/3.13). Ernesto Frieri is crazy good (with a career strikeout rate near twelve per nine), but has less experience. They both seem to be sharing the job right now. The history of lefty closers suggests Frieri will prevail.
With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.
Norm Charlton.
I am confused as to what the writer was thinking here. Listing 8 closers and then saying these were the only guys to have saved 15+ games more than 4 times, but then adding in 3 more (and then Rocker who didn’t)
Why not just change your original writing once you discovered there were more than those 8 guys?
Hey spaceshot – He said MORE THAN 4 times. He is only continuing his thought process about lefty closers, not adding to the list! The other guys he continues talking about did not have MORE THAN 4 years of 15+ saves.
A little bit of both actually. I wrote it that way to reflect the feeling I had that Dan Plesac and John Rocker probably shouldn’t be in the same sentence as Billy Wagner.
I heard you were actually responsible for some of the battery-hurling at Shea.
Something like that’s gotta be true!
Who cares?
Do you think the Twins would go to Glen Perkins as a closer if Matt Capps is traded by the ASB this year? He seems to be the logical choice, other than his lefthandedness….as long as they can keep Duensing in the pen….
Maybe it’s worth going into the lefty closers a little and seeing if their pens had three lefties or something. Maybe part of it is that managers don’t want to be without a LOOGY, and not all pens have multiple lefties. Think the White Sox, and how they’ve had lefty closers because they’ve had so many lefties.
Eno, what do you think of Sean Doolittle’s shot at the closer role in Oakland? Everyone says Ryan Cook gets the first chance should the A’s deal Fuentes, but his K:BB is pretty bad and Doolittle’s numbers in the minors are eye-popping. 3 Ks in his first appearance last night, too. Cook is out there in my league, which is a very deep AL only league, but I’m tempted to roll the dice on Doolittle.
My thoughts exactly. His Ratios are Frieri-esque.
Adrolis Chapman
also, his brother Aroldis
And their sister, Rosilda.