Detroit Tigers were right to replace Francisco Rodriguez as the closer

Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has decided to replace Francisco Rodriguez as the team’s closer, according to reports.

It took a little while, but the Detroit Tigers have a new closer… at least for now. According to a tweet from Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Brad Ausmus has removed Francisco Rodriguez from the closer’s role that he’s had since the beginning of the season.

Nightengale also includes in his tweet that the Tigers will turn to right-hander Justin Wilson to close games in the ninth inning, “until K-Rod overcomes his struggles.”

Despite K-Rod having a much higher pedigree as a major league reliever, the 29-year-old Wilson has been lightyears better than the now former closer in 2017. In 16 appearances, Wilson has only allowed two earned runs, while striking out an outstanding 14.1 batters per nine innings. This gives him a fantastic K-BB ratio of 5.75.

In comparison, Rodriguez has produced a disastrous 8.49 ERA in 13 appearances this season. He’s also blown four out of 11 of his save chances.

All of this makes this makes for a rather easy decision, even when considering the outstanding resume that K-Rod has put together over the 16 years of his major league career. The veteran closer was a pretty good ninth inning option for the Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers since 2014, but his pitching arsenal seems to have fallen off greatly when looking at some of the peripherals he’s produced this season.

Thus far, according to FanGraphs, his line drive rate has spiked by over 8 percent, his ground ball has plummeted from 54.7 percent to 29.3 percent and the number of fly balls he’s given up has shot up considerably as well. All of these numbers are not consistent with his career averages and it could explain the dramatic jump of his hard contact percentage from a year ago too (29.2 percent to 41.5 percent).

Now we are just over a month into the 2017 season, so the Tigers still should have their minds open when it comes to K-Rod’s role in the bullpen, but there is concern that the 35-year-old’s stuff is beginning to really fall off. His fastball velocity has dropped by one tick, which isn’t that big of a deal. But there is another single stat that may explain Rodriguez’s overall struggles.

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K-Rod’s best pitch throughout his career has no doubt been his changeup, which is an offering that gets many swings and misses because of its sharp downward movement out of the zone. However, when looking at his swing percentage on pitches that aren’t strikes, it has dropped by about 8 points. This is concerning because this number is currently at a career low.

There’s still time for him to get going in the right direction now that he will be pitching in less stressful situations, but this is still absolutely something the Tigers should be keeping track of as this season continues to unfold.

Taking all this information into account, it makes this a rather clear-cut move, especially with the way Wilson has been pitching in 2017.

Wilson gives the Tigers a completely different look in the ninth inning as he is more of a typical closer. He brings a mid-90s fastball to the table, with a cutter that plays in the low 90s, while supplementing both those fastballs with a curveball that he uses to keep hitters off balance.

One could argue that the Tigers could have made this decision a little earlier, but nevertheless, the team should feel much better with its chances of holding a lead in the ninth inning with Wilson in the game rather than K-Rod.

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What do you think of the Tigers’ decision to make a change at closer? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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