Arizona Diamondbacks: Bullpen in flux in the midst of playoff chase
Specialists
The other angle that the Arizona Diamondbacks can do better than the typical bullpen is to specialize – from both sides. Most every bullpen in baseball has a LOOGY, their guy to stifle lefty hitters. The Diamondbacks have guys who can shut down from both sides.
The Diamondbacks have two guys who can dominate from the left side. Andrew Chafin has put up excellent numbers all season, with a 2.51 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 72 games and 46 2/3 innings pitched. He’s been dominant against both sides of the plate in 2018, but over his career, Chafin has allowed an OPS 100 points lower to lefties, and, most importantly, he puts up a notably lower walk rate against lefty hitters.
Arizona acquired Jake Diekman at the trade deadline from the Texas Rangers, and he’s had a solid season overall, but he’s been a player that has seen reverse splits on the season. Similar to Chafin, while the split is reverse this year, his career numbers indicate that he’s tougher on lefties.
The Arizona Diamondbacks will also be able to deploy two guys who are especially tough on particular hitters due to their unique arm angle. Yoshihisa Hirano was assumed as the guy who would likely get closing chances due to his history closing in Japan, but the 34-year-old rookie is incredibly difficult for lefties to pick up, in spite of being right-handed, due to the way he slings the ball from seemingly behind his shoulder.
The other arm angle guy is side-armer Brad Ziegler, who at 38 has had a long career suppressing right-handed bats, and while he may never win a velocity contest in the bullpen, his ability to dominate righties exists today. He’s held righties to an OPS 120 points lower than lefties in 2018, and over his career the split is in the range of 160 OPS points.
Next. NL MVP race as September begins. dark
The Arizona Diamondbacks may not have roles for the rest of this season, but with guys who can mold into a number of needs within the bullpen, perhaps they don’t really need roles – they simply need pitchers that can get an out. That would be a very different way to look at a bullpen – getting outs with the best pitcher to get that out rather than holding onto a pitcher for a certain role that may never come.