2019 MLB Season: Finding the Next Ryan Pressly
By Ryan Sanders
Ryan Pressly signing a 2 year, $17.5M extension ahead of the 2019 MLB season wasn’t even the biggest extension handed out by the Astros this week because Alex Bregman got a $100M extension of his own.
Nevertheless, the Pressly extension is important because it continues to show how quick a pitcher can go from middling reliever to an effective shutdown buzzsaw. For those not familiar, Ryan Pressly had a 4.70 ERA and a 4.36 FIP as a member of the Twins bullpen prior to the 2019 MLB season.
In 2018, he had a good first half and the Houston Astros went out and traded for him at the deadline. At that point, Pressly took off and immediately became a fixture in Astros bullpen.
His 2018 work was good for a 2.54 ERA, 2.47 FIP while striking out nearly 35% of hitters he faced. Pressly credited the Astros with showing him data and suggesting a more optimal pitching strategy. Pressly has one of the highest spin arsenals in all of baseball, which means it is more likely to miss bats.
Every year at the trade deadline, teams tried to lengthen their bullpen with quality arms in preparation for the postseason. using Statcast, I wanted to see if we could find next “Ryan Pressly” teams will be targeting at the deadline.
We are looking for high spin pitchers who haven’t had success for a variety of reasons whether it is pitch mix, location, or something else. To do this, I identified the highest spin rate on breaking balls and fastballs then looked at their overall pitch usage rates.
It might feel early to look at potential trade deadline acquisitions but team analysts are likely already thinking about these things. Onto the Pitchers.