Phillies extend Seranthony Dominguez, a vital bullpen cog

By now, most close observers of the Philadelphia Phillies are aware that manager Rob Thomson is perfectly content to mix and match his relievers in save situations, but this doesn’t mean that  everybody in the bullpen is likely to be called upon for them. This is why extending Seranthony Dominguez, as the Phillies did on Thursday before the team’s first workout, was a solid move.

There were 60 save opportunities for Phillies relievers last season. Dominguez got 11 of them and converted nine. The only Phil who got more opportunities than he did in ’22 was Corey Knebel, who is now a free agent, and the guy behind Dominguez on the save opportunity list, David Robertson, is now with the Mets.

Extending Seranthony Dominguez was a slightly hidden but important matter for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Moreover, as they did last year, the Phillies signed a “closer type” who is a veteran — Knebel was replaced by Craig Kimbrel. But Kimbrel is turning 35 in May, and Dominguez will not turn 29 until the coming season is over, so without even digging into data, keeping the high-velocity Dominican right-hander seems to edge toward the necessary category.

Digging into the data a little makes an even stronger argument for retaining Dominguez.

First, in addition to being the currently best Phillies reliever regularly used as a closer, Seranthony Dominguez has not thrown as much as many relievers entering their age-28 seasons.

He did not pitch for over two years in the majors as he recovered from Tommy John surgery done in 2019.

Second, last season’s workload for Dominguez was the first since his age-23 season (’18) in which he was called on to throw more than 800 pitches, and the overall result was, all things considered, quite good. His strikeout rate was 29.5 percent (32 in ’18) and his walks were booked at 10.6 percent (9.5 in ’18). His barreled ball percentage was also similar to his figure from his last full season — 6.5 percent/6.1.

Nearly 70 percent of the pitches Seranthony Dominguez throws are four-seam fastballs or sinkers — almost an even split of that 70 — and in ’22 opponents’ batting averages against those two pitches were .161 and .206, respectively. The one concerning figure deep in the numbers was his hard-hit rate last season ‚— 45.5 percent, in the bottom five percent of the league.

The Phillies are willing to take a chance that, in the long run, that figure is an outlier. Dominguez will make $2.5 million in ’23 and $4.5 million in ’24 with a fairly expensive club option for 2025.