* All ratios are based on a minimum of 30 innings pitched.  


No one could pull a pitch from Cody Allen this season as his 24.4 percent mark led baseball. Two other men were under 26 percent: Carter Capps (25.5) and Jonathan Broxton (25.6).

Zach Britton had a 79.1 percent ground ball rate. That’s simply stupid good. Brad Ziegler was just behind at 72.8 percent to lead the National League. Here are the other relievers that were over 65 percent: Sam Dyson (68.8), Marc Rzepczynski (67.3), Javier Lopez (67.3), Jake Petricka (65.2) and Dan Jennings (65.1).

How did the Phillies call on Luis Garcia 72 times with a 5.00 walk rate per nine? That’s not a poor number – it’s hideous. Obviously the Phillies like his arm and are big-time fans of his 63 percent ground ball rate. By the by… he was the only arm in baseball with a walk rate that high who made 65 outings a reality.

Kelvin Herrera was solid with 21 holds and a 2.71 ERA for the Royals. He also tied for the big-league lead with seven blown saves. He didn’t have a single save on the season. Junichi Tazawa wasn’t a whole lot better as he also blew seven save chances while converting only three chances. In fact, of the six men who blew seven saves this season only two had more than 10 saves: David Robertson (34) and Fernando Rodney (16).

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Jared Hughes tossed 67 innings over 76 outings for the Pirates this season. He had a 2.28 ERA and 21 holds and he had a rather impressive 64 percent ground ball rate (it’s been at that level the last two seasons). Alas, a 4.84 K/9 ratio is woeful and completely limits his value, even in league specific setups.

Kenley Jansen led all hurlers with an 11.1 percent line drive rate. Just sick. That mark was nearly a third of the worst mark that belongs to David Robertson (30.2).

Jim Johnson was the only man in baseball to have 25 holds and to post an ERA over 3.65. It was dire at 4.46. Johnson also blew seven of 17 save chances. Ugly. Might be why he was let go by the Dodgers at the end of the year.

George Kontos has seen his strikeout rate per nine decline four straight years: 9.07, 7.64, 7.52 and 5.40. That’s not good. However, he also did something very well in 2015 – he cut the walks out of his game. While he had been right at three walks per nine in 2013-14, in the just completed season that number dipped all the way to 1.47 per nine. That helped him to a 2.33 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. He’s gone over 100 innings the last two seasons with a 2.47 ERA and 0.98 WHIP for the Giants.

OK, I know I hinted in the lead I wouldn’t talk much about closers, but I have to mention Mark Melancon. All those early season concerns about velocity amounted to jack squat. Melancon was dominating all season long on his way to 51 saves and 78 outings, the second most in baseball. Take that velocity whores (according to PITCHf/x his fastball was down 1.2 mph from 2014). Speaking of a Pirates arm, Tony Watson was once again a beast appearing in 77 games, tied with Javier Lopez for the third most in baseball.  Finally, back to Lopez. Amazing to think he was on the field for 77 games this season and threw a total of 39.1 innings. Only one other arm over 70 outings failed to hit 50 innings – that was Cardinals lefty Marc Rzepczynski (72 outings, 35 innings).

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Juan Nicasio tossed 58.1 innings for the Dodgers. He had a league average ERA of 3.86, and his WHIP was awful (1.56). He did strike out out 65 batters for a positive. However, the best number he posted was one. That’s the number of homers he allowed all season long. No one in baseball had a lower HR/F ratio than his 2 percent mark.  

Evan Scriber walked four batters over 60 innings leading to a 0.60 BB/9 mark. Add in 64 strikeouts over 60 innings and we’re looking at a guy with a 16.00 K/BB ratio, the best in baseball. Kenley Jansen was the only other arm with a mark above 8.30 per nine at 10.00. One other amazing note with Scriber: He allowed 14 homers. Fourteen. That led to an embarrassing HR/9 mark of 2.10. I don’t know how this is possible, but that was just the eighth-worst mark in the game in 2015. Say hello to Allen Webster who allowed 10 homers in 31 innings (2.90), the worst in baseball.

Kevin Siegrist pitched in half the 162 games that were played in 2015. In his 81 outings he tossed 74.2 outings on his way to seven wins and six saves. Kinda like the 2.17 ERA and 10.85 K/9 rate, but that walk rate of 4.10 free passes per nine is really troubling.

Forgot to mention one other thing with Watson earlier… he led baseball with 41 holds. Two others were over 30: Sergio Romo (34) and Joe Smith (32). Each of those three relievers also tossed 70 games worth of pitches. Romo went 0-5. Watson went 4-1. Smith had 10 decisions (5-5).

Travis Wood and Jean Machi had the most saves in baseball this season without blowing an opportunity. They each had four saves. 

 

 
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