The spirit of Mike Hargrove lives on in Major League Baseball. Who are today's time wasters? I'll give you three: Jonathon Papelbon, Robinson Cano and Jose Valverde. Want to know more? Then check out my latest article for Big Leagues Magazine on e-stands now.
Showing posts with label Jonathan Papelbon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jonathan Papelbon. Show all posts
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Friday, May 20, 2011
Grit Your Teeth - Jonathan Papelbon is Back
There weren't too many people around the country who were too upset that Jonathan Papelbon had a down year last year. The erstwhile closer just seems to be the most hated closer since John Rocker. Paps may have been right about Manny Ramirez when that trade went down a few years ago, but he broke etiquette by blasting his former teammate. He famously was upset at his own manager for choosing Mariano Rivera as the All Star closer a couple of seasons ago. His demeanor on the field and after games just seem to lead to loathing. And that's all fine and good if he is blowing saves and rocking a 3.90 ERA. But even the hoariest of haters have to admit that Papelbon has been the bomb this year.
Papelbon is currently rated by Fangraphs as the second best reliever in baseball, just slightly ahead of Mariano Rivera after Rivera blew the save on Wednesday, and just behind Craig Kimbrel and his 14.57 strikeouts per nine innings. Papelbon's ERA of 2.41 is certainly better than last year, but it's not a true indicator of how well he is pitching. His FIP is 1.02 and leads all relief pitchers and his xFIP is 2.06. A high BABIP is all that stands in the way of Papelbon's overall ERA. He's been a bit unlucky.
There are three stats that stand out for Jonathan Papelbon this year. His strikeouts per nine have jumped back to his highest level since 2007 and stands at 12.05. His walk rate is the lowest it's been since 2008 and sits at 1.45 and he's given up no homers, something he had a little trouble with last year. His 8.33 K/BB ratio is outstanding and the second best of his career. The up-tick in numbers lead to the question of what he is doing differently this year than last year.
The one thing noticeable is that he's throwing more sliders this year. After throwing that pitch a little over nine percent of the time the last two years, he's thrown the slider 12.1 percent of the time this year. And his slider seems to have more vertical and horizontal movement than a year ago when it was a lot flatter a pitch for him. His split-fingered pitch is still devastating. Few people can throw that pitch with an average speed of 89 miles per hour like he can. It's his top rated pitch and is rated even higher than his 94 MPH fastball.
One of the knocks on Papelbon last year was that he relied too heavily on the fastball and stubbornly stuck to that pitch. The numbers don't bear that out. His percentage of fastballs relative to all his pitches was at the lowest percentage in his career last year. The real difference it seems was that his fastball was flat and had little movement (only -0.5). This year, his fastball has more movement (-2.0) vertically and along with his slider and split, has led batters to swing at pitches out of the strike zone at the highest rate (39 percent) of his career.
Few people who follow baseball root for Jonathan Papelbon. Even his own fans in Boston are split on whether they want him or Daniel Bard to close games for the Red Sox. But last year notwithstanding, Jonathan Papelbon is an elite closer with few peers in baseball. His success will be a big key to how far the Red Sox go this season. And so far, so good.
Papelbon is currently rated by Fangraphs as the second best reliever in baseball, just slightly ahead of Mariano Rivera after Rivera blew the save on Wednesday, and just behind Craig Kimbrel and his 14.57 strikeouts per nine innings. Papelbon's ERA of 2.41 is certainly better than last year, but it's not a true indicator of how well he is pitching. His FIP is 1.02 and leads all relief pitchers and his xFIP is 2.06. A high BABIP is all that stands in the way of Papelbon's overall ERA. He's been a bit unlucky.
There are three stats that stand out for Jonathan Papelbon this year. His strikeouts per nine have jumped back to his highest level since 2007 and stands at 12.05. His walk rate is the lowest it's been since 2008 and sits at 1.45 and he's given up no homers, something he had a little trouble with last year. His 8.33 K/BB ratio is outstanding and the second best of his career. The up-tick in numbers lead to the question of what he is doing differently this year than last year.
The one thing noticeable is that he's throwing more sliders this year. After throwing that pitch a little over nine percent of the time the last two years, he's thrown the slider 12.1 percent of the time this year. And his slider seems to have more vertical and horizontal movement than a year ago when it was a lot flatter a pitch for him. His split-fingered pitch is still devastating. Few people can throw that pitch with an average speed of 89 miles per hour like he can. It's his top rated pitch and is rated even higher than his 94 MPH fastball.
One of the knocks on Papelbon last year was that he relied too heavily on the fastball and stubbornly stuck to that pitch. The numbers don't bear that out. His percentage of fastballs relative to all his pitches was at the lowest percentage in his career last year. The real difference it seems was that his fastball was flat and had little movement (only -0.5). This year, his fastball has more movement (-2.0) vertically and along with his slider and split, has led batters to swing at pitches out of the strike zone at the highest rate (39 percent) of his career.
Few people who follow baseball root for Jonathan Papelbon. Even his own fans in Boston are split on whether they want him or Daniel Bard to close games for the Red Sox. But last year notwithstanding, Jonathan Papelbon is an elite closer with few peers in baseball. His success will be a big key to how far the Red Sox go this season. And so far, so good.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Who Knew?
The Fan was pouring over Friday's box scores and it was pretty disappointing since almost all of the Florida games were rained out. But then the link was clicked to the Chicago game and looking over the pitchers that worked the game, the Fan got a Wuh moment. You know that kind of moment right? It's when you rub your eyes to see if you are seeing what you thought you saw. One of the innings pitched for Chicago was by J. Papelbon. What!?
So the Fan frantically checked through all the news sites. How did the guy who lives and dies by baseball miss such an important trade? The box score looked legit. J. Papelbon pitched an inning, giving up no runs with two strikeouts and a walk. That sounded right. But how could it be?
After hyperventilating for a moment, the Fan had a lucid moment and went to www.baseball-reference.com and searched for Papelbon. Thank goodness. There were three of them. There was the Jonathan that pitches for the Red Sox and then there were two others, Jeremy and Joshua. They are all brothers. Who knew!?
Jeremy and Joshua are twins and are three years younger than Jonathan. Joshua pitches in the Red Sox minor league system and pitched in Portland last year. Hey! That's the Fan's state! Jeremy pitched mostly in AA last year for Chicago and finished the year at AAA.
Wouldn't it be kind of funny if Jeremy was traded to the Red Sox and all three were in the bullpen? They are all relief pitchers by the way. The Fan can see it now: "Pitching the seventh inning, Papelbon." "Now pitching for the Red Sox (in the eighth inning), Papelbon." "And it's time for the Red Sox to turn to their closer, it's Papelbon." Wouldn't that be something?
So anyway, the Fan hopes he is not the only dummy who didn't know about all of this. Three Papelbon pitchers. And they are all relievers. Fascinating.
So the Fan frantically checked through all the news sites. How did the guy who lives and dies by baseball miss such an important trade? The box score looked legit. J. Papelbon pitched an inning, giving up no runs with two strikeouts and a walk. That sounded right. But how could it be?
After hyperventilating for a moment, the Fan had a lucid moment and went to www.baseball-reference.com and searched for Papelbon. Thank goodness. There were three of them. There was the Jonathan that pitches for the Red Sox and then there were two others, Jeremy and Joshua. They are all brothers. Who knew!?
Jeremy and Joshua are twins and are three years younger than Jonathan. Joshua pitches in the Red Sox minor league system and pitched in Portland last year. Hey! That's the Fan's state! Jeremy pitched mostly in AA last year for Chicago and finished the year at AAA.
Wouldn't it be kind of funny if Jeremy was traded to the Red Sox and all three were in the bullpen? They are all relief pitchers by the way. The Fan can see it now: "Pitching the seventh inning, Papelbon." "Now pitching for the Red Sox (in the eighth inning), Papelbon." "And it's time for the Red Sox to turn to their closer, it's Papelbon." Wouldn't that be something?
So anyway, the Fan hopes he is not the only dummy who didn't know about all of this. Three Papelbon pitchers. And they are all relievers. Fascinating.
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