Los Angeles Angels Getting Saves From–Bud Norris?

The Los Angeles Angels had a very specific set of circumstances that would lead to them being competitive this season, and Bud Norris closing out games probably wasn’t on the list.

The Los Angeles Angels were written about during the offseason as a team that could surprise some folks in 2017. They do have Mike Trout after all. Garrett Richards was coming back from injury. Cam Bedrosian looked primed to break out and potentially wrestle away the closer spot away from Huston Street. Well, Street, Bedrosian and Richards are all currently on the disabled list which somehow leaves Bud Norris closing out games at the moment.

Bud Norris was a sixth round pick of the Houston Astros back in 2006, debuted in 2009 and was traded by the Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Josh Hader and L.J. Hoes. Hader was part of the prospect package that landed the Astros Carlos Gomez back in 2015 and currently comes in as the Brewers number two prospect in a loaded system. Hoes hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2015 and is currently suspended for 50 games after a second positive test for a drug of abuse.

Sorry, I’m a fan of rabbit holes. Back to Bud Norris.

After being released by the Orioles following the 2015 season in which he posted a 7.06 ERA in 18 appearances (11 starts), he signed with the San Diego Padres to finish out the season and made all of 20 of his appearances out of the bullpen, totaling just 16.2 innings pitched.

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Last season between his time with the Braves and Dodgers he made 19 starts but appeared in 35 games. Up until this season, the Padres were the only team to exclusively attempt Norris out of the bullpen. Well, it looks as though the Angels liked this idea, because after being one of the last players to make the opening day roster, Norris is now their acting closer until Bedrosian comes back.

So far Norris has closed out four of his five save opportunities, including each of the last two nights against Oakland en route to a 2.84 ERA. On Wednesday night he worked a solid one-two-three ninth and last night he walked a batter, but of the 13 pitches he threw in total, the other nine were strikes.

The sample size is extremely small for relief pitchers at this point in the season, but in taking a look at FanGraphs there is one pitch that sticks out as potentially having a big impact on the success that Norris has had through the first month: The cutter.

For his career, Norris has averaged roughly 56 percent usage on his fastball, but this season that is down to 40 percent, his slider usage is down from 31.8 percent (career) to 16.8 this season and his cutter usage has shot way up from 3 percent to 42.1 percent. The difference in miles per hour between his slider and his heater is just 7.8 mph with his cutter coming in right in the middle.

Brooks Baseball says of the pitch, “His cutter generates more whiffs/swing compared to other pitchers’ cutters, has slightly above average velo and has strong cutting action.”

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Increased usage with more swings and misses than a typical cutter? Yeah, that sounds like a winning combination.

With a bullpen consisting of Huston Street, assuming he returns to form, Cam Bedrosian, a resurgent Bud Norris, and Blake Parker and his ridiculous 15.19 K/9 rate, the Angels may have a pretty decent bullpen moving forward, and that could be what keeps them in contention this year.