Oakland Athletics: Hendriks got robbed of the AL Reliever Award

Oakland Athletics closer Liam Hendriks had an amazing 2019 season, but he was robbed of the reliever award by New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman.

Liam Hendriks was a huge reason why the Oakland Athletics got to the American League Wild Card game, but he was overseen by a closer who is on a more talented team in a bigger market.

So, of course, Chapman is going to get a lot of attention, as he is on the most popular team in the game and he is also on the East Coast where most of the voters are, which is a disadvantage to Hendriks since he is on the West Coast playing at 10 pm ET. That means most writers don’t get to watch him on a nightly basis, so there could be a bias towards Chapman who is a much better-known name.

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But let’s get to the numbers to prove why Hendriks actually deserved the award.

Liam Hendriks owned a 1.80 ERA, 1.87 FIP, 3.8 WAR, and 13.13 K/9 while Aroldis Chapman owned a 2.21 ERA, 2.28 FIP, 2.0 WAR, and 13.42 K/9.

Hendriks leads in all of those categories except K/9, and he is only trailing Chapman by 0.29 points.

And here is another point. Liam Hendriks was more valuable than Chapman to his team throughout the season.

Hendriks was on a less-talented team, which means he had to pitch the whole season under pressure just to get into a playoff spot, but Chapman, on the other hand, was on a team that locked up their division long before the end of the regular season, and he barely pitched at all in the last month of the regular season.

It is clear Hendriks deserved the Reliever of the Year award over Aroldis Chapman not just because his numbers were better but because he was more valuable to his team through the entirety of the regular season.