Bullpen Heros for the Mariners

Since moving to the bullpen, Maurer has become a new pitcher. Posting ridiculous stats: 0.00 ERA 1.45 FIP 2.52 xFIP while striking out 31.6% of all batters he has faced. Things weren’t working out for him in the rotation, but moving to the bullpen has allowed him to use his two best pitches (fastball and change-up) and he has done an amazing job in his ten innings of work. Small sample size or not, anyone who watches the Mariners can tell you Brandon Maurer has looked infinitely better as a reliever. 

Brandon Maurer showing great fastball command.

Dominic Leone has been equally impressive this season. His 1.83 ERA isn’t a fluke either as he has posted a 2.73 FIP and 2.85 xFIP, so even if he regresses, it shouldn’t be so severe. He’s striking out 10.30 batters per nine innings and his groundball rate is at 51.5%, so he is a tough match-up with runners on base as well.

Dominic Leone freezes B.J. Upton with his slider.

 The Mariners are currently the second Wild Card team in the American League and their bullpen is a huge reason why that is the case. They lead all of MLB with a 2.39 bullpen ERA and given the injuries to James Paxton and Taijuan Walker (and Iwakuma early on), they’ve really stepped up to the challenge and kept the Mariners in the playoff race. While Chris Young continues to use smoke and mirrors to succeed (4.95 FIP & 5.38 xFIP) and rookie Roenis Elias begins to fade, the bullpen has stayed consistent. If Walker and Paxton can make any impact on the rotation with this bullpen in place… The Mariners could be a dangerous team come playoff time.

Gus Schlosser - Braves Rookie Reliever

Gus Schlosser made his Major League debut yesterday against the Milwaukee Brewers and already had an immediate impact in the bullpen. Following up fellow rookie, Ian Thomas, Schlosser induced an inning ending double play. Throughout his career in the minor leagues, Schlosser has been great at stranding runners on base and his career he has had a very high LOB% (which ranges from 78% in 2011, 67% in 2012, and 78.1% in 2013). Given these numbers, it's apparent that he'd be great coming into games and getting important outs with people on base. Another advantage Schlosser has is his excellent control, his career WHIP in 335.5 innings in the minors is 1.130, and he averages 7.6 SO/9 and only 2.2 BB/9 which is good for a 3.44 SO/BB ratio. Personally, I feel like the most important thing for a relief pitcher is to limit walks and throw strikes. Throughout his entire minor league career, he has only allowed 14 home runs and when you don't walk many batters and don't allow many home runs, you're in a great position succeed on the mound in high leverage situations. Obviously, he's only made one career appearance and there's not enough of a sample size to make any assumptions about his role moving forward, but if he's able to duplicate his minor league success, you'd have to think the Braves have another late inning reliever in their arsenal of impressive bullpen arms. In the image below, it demonstrates the movement on his slider and Schlosser's ability to generate ground balls.

He has a very unique delivery and his slider breaks so much that Rickie Weeks can only muster a weak ground ball off the end of the bat. He pitched 1.2 innings in his debut and struck out a batter while also inducing an inning ending double play. The Braves already feature Luis Avilan, David Carpenter, Jordan Walden, Craig Kimbrel, and will eventually be getting Jonny Venters back as well. The Braves continue to produce above average relievers and they'll need them more than ever with the question marks surrounding the 5th starter spot in the rotation. If the Braves can have a lead going into the 6th inning, you'll have to like their chances to win moving forward this season. I'm very excited to see Gus Schlosser continue to grow and get chances to impress manager Fredi Gonzalez at the Major League level.