We’ve passed the midway point of the season, and there still remains a great deal of uncertainty in a lot of bullpens. The injury rate also has increased to what feels like a record high, and it’s affected pitchers more than anyone else. Two of the best relievers in the game, Drew Pomeranz and Nick Anderson, landed on the IL this past week. Anderson should be back next week while Pomeranz is likely a week or two away at least.
Two of the best left-handed setup options in baseball, Aaron Bummer, and Zack Britton, both remain without a timetable although based on the few updates available, it feels like Britton will return before Bummer. Ken Giles is throwing and feeling well but still likely a week or two away. Andrew Miller will likely only miss 10 days after being placed on the IL yesterday just to get some rest but his body really seems to be breaking down on him.
The Rays are expecting to have Chaz Roe back within the next week, while Oliver Drake should return in a week or two. Keone Kela was placed on the IL yesterday with an elbow injury, which means he probably won’t be moving at the trade deadline this year. I’d expect the Pirates to slow play it with Kela at this point as there is no reason to rush him back out there.
Notes
- Daniel Hudson hasn’t been quite bad as his 5.73 ERA suggests, although it would be nice to see him start missing barrels at a higher clip. His 13% barrel rate and 93.2 MPH exit velocity against both put him in the bottom 3% amongst all pitchers. On the bright side, his 36.4% K, 18.3% SwStr and 33% Whiff rates all are on track to be career highs by a good margin. His WHIP is still sitting at .91. I’ll chalk up the high barrel rates to mostly bad luck and think he’ll be just fine for the second half, and makes for a great buy-low option.
- The most boring closer in baseball, Brandon Kintzler will never wow with his swing and miss numbers, but he continues to get the job done and be an effective closer. His ability to get weak groundballs shouldn’t be overlooked.
- I love Josh Staumont’s stuff, upper 90’s fastball with a curveball that averages 6.6″ of vertical drop at 83 MPH, but his control and command just need to get better. When hitters do make contact, he’s been hit hard, so his 1.42 WHIP seems pretty realistic to me right now despite the high BABIP (.368). His ERA should probably be around 3.50 right now, which given the K upside, is still rosterable. There’s a chance Trevor Rosenthal gets moved, if so that could give Staumont some save chances, but that walk rate needs to come down before I’d be comfortable with placing him in that tier 2-3 range.
- Tommy Hunter was the only reliever to pick up 3 SV+HD’s this past week, definitely a surprising name to see at the top of that list. This will likely be the last time he leads the league for a week, but Hunter is a guy that always seems to outperform his poor xStats.
Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
