MLB: Three surprising bullpen arms dominating early in 2020
These three MLB relievers are off to dominant starts to the 2020 season.
You hear it so often because it’s true, but relievers are a highly volatile group of baseball players. They can be on top of the MLB world one week, and relegated to mop-up duty the next. It’s rare to see a bullpen arm remain dominate year after year, but those that are able to figure it out are truly special talents to watch.
Much of the 2020 MLB season has been about embracing the weird and the unique and enjoying the early season, small sample size successes of players because we never know when we could wake up one day and have baseball taken away from us again.
Despite the season being less than three weeks old, we’re already more than quarter of the way done, so let’s embrace every pitch like it’s the last one we will see this season and highlight some impressive early performances out of the bullpen in 2020.
Colorado Rockies RHP Daniel Bard
Daniel Bard’s story just might be the most amazing story of the 2020 MLB season. Bard last appeared in the majors leagues back in 2013 with the Boston Red Sox and hadn’t recorded a major league win since 2012.
He ended both of those streaks on opening weekend this year, making the Colorado Rockies Opening Day roster and earning a win in Colorado’s 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on July 25th.
Bard pitched 1.1 innings in relief of starter Jon Gray, allowing no runs on two hits and striking out one as he returned to a major league mound in impressive fashion.
His comeback tour has been pretty exciting to watch since that first outing. Bard is currently tied for second among all MLB relievers with a 0.4 fWAR. He’s appeared in seven games, allowing just three runs on 10 hits, good for a 3.12 ERA, and an even more impressive 0.49 FIP.
Best of all, Daniel Bard has yet to allow a walk to go along with his 11 strikeouts. The yips are gone, Daniel Bard is back, and he’s helping to lead one of the top bullpens in baseball for one of the top teams in baseball.
What a story. What a sport.
Is Miguel Castro finally developing into a reliable MLB bullpen piece for the Baltimore Orioles?
Anyone who has watched Baltimore Orioles baseball over the last few years knows the fear, sadness, anger, and depression that all flood your soul when an Orioles pitcher climbs the rubber, especially an arm out of the bullpen.
However, it’s been a bit of a different story in 2020. Projected to be in a fight for the top overall draft pick yet again, the Orioles are currently 7-7 and have one of the top bullpens in the majors.
One of the more impressive stories out of this bullpen has been a 25-year-old reliever, Miguel Castro. Standing at 6-7 and 205 pounds, Castro has walked between 10-13% of hitters he’s faced in each of the last three seasons and owns a FIP close to 5.00 in his Orioles career. Despite the electric stuff, Castro’s inability to keep runners off base has been frustrating.
Castro has appeared in seven games this season for Baltimore, allowing zero runs on four hits, striking out 10 and walking just two batters. He is currently tied for second among major league relievers with a 0.4 fWAR.
There’s still been a bit of breath holding when Castro is on the mound, but he’s producing a 62.5% groundball rate, striking out 36% of hitters he’s faced, and utilizing a 98 mph sinker and 92.3 mph changeup to get hitters out.
Don’t overlook his slider, though. Castro has yet to allow a hit off his slider (second most used pitch at 35%) and he’s produced a 46% whiff rate with the pitch.
It’s still early to say whether or not Miguel Castro is developing into that reliable reliever fans have been waiting more than three years for, but there’s no denying that he’s off to a very impressive start. Keeping up his production as the Orioles navigate their way through their AL and NL East schedule this year will be tough, but something to watch closely as the season progresses.
Drew Pomeranz has found a home as an MLB reliever for the San Diego Padres.
We previously highlighted Drew Pomeranz after the first week of the season after his first few impressive outings out of the San Diego Padres bullpen and he has yet to slow down since.
A former starter with the Padres back in 2016, Pomeranz worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen with the Milwaukee Brewers last season and was solid, striking out 45% of hitters he faced across 26.1 innings.
Padres general manager AJ Preller was intrigued enough to give Pomeranz an eye-opening four-year deal worth $34 million last offseason, a move many questioned for a reliever.
In eight outings with San Diego, Pomeranz has recorded three saves and has yet to allow a run in 7.1 innings of work. He’s also stranded 100% of runners he has inherited.
Pomeranz and his 0.5 fWAR currently lead all of MLB. He’s struck out 10, walked three, and allowed just one hit all year. Notably, the Padres haven’t been afraid to use him as the team’s closer in tight games over Kirby Yates.
Case in point on Monday night. Up 2-1 over the LA Dodgers in a crucial divisional game, Padres manager Jayce Tingler brought out Pomeranz to shut the door.
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We may end up revisiting this in three weeks and see quite the shift in performance for these arms, but their early 2020 performances have been impressive and gone a long way in helping their teams get to where they are right now. Hopefully, the positive trends continue.