Bullpen HR's

[Pat Kelly]

In watching last night the O's BP gave up another 2 HR's albeit fringe, minor league relievers, but it seems the BP when it gets hit especially in middle innings (if Castro is not pitching) gives up a ton of HRs.   Guess who leads the AL in HR's allowed by the BP?   The O's BP although among the leaders in BP ERA does give up more HR's than anyone else which means when they blow a game it tends to be put out of reach such as Thursday and Saturday night against the Blue Jays.  More problematic given the team offense and ability to come back.   Givens, Brach, O'Day are the leaders on the team in BP HR's allowed.   For context Givens is tied for 2nd most BP HR in AL.  Not good.   Solution?  More pitch arounds?   More ground ball relievers such as Britton?

 

[Cumberbundy]

We are 4th in ground ball %, 8th from last in baseball in HR/9. We don't get Ks, we are 29th in Ks per 9.

We are not among the worst 4 in the AL in HR/9. Only the Jays, Mariners & Reds have been forced to throw more innings. The issue, as usual, is with the rotation we've assembled.

 

[Cumberbundy]

A link for anyone who wants to navigate such statistics:

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2017&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=17,d

By WAR, FIP & xFIP we are lousy.

 

[Frobby]

FWIW, our bullpen has pitched the second most innings in the league,  so they have more opportunities to give up homers than most bullpens.    And, we play in a homer-friendly park.   

[Pat Kelly]

9 minutes ago, Cumberbundy said:

We are 4th in ground ball %, 8th from last in baseball in HR/9. We don't get Ks, we are 29th in Ks per 9.

We are not among the worst 4 in the AL in HR/9. Only the Jays, Mariners & Reds have been forced to throw more innings. The issue, as usual, is with the rotation we've assembled.

 

How do you explain Givens?  Obviously more innings equals more hits, HR and runs but BP is always been a key part of the team, BP along with offense need to be way above average for this team to win.  Front office seems unable, unwilling to invest in top pitching and loses patience with pitchers quickly.   

[Cumberbundy]

7 minutes ago, Pat Kelly said:

How do you explain Givens?  Obviously more innings equals more hits, HR and runs but BP is always been a key part of the team, BP along with offense need to be way above average for this team to win.  Front office seems unable, unwilling to invest in top pitching and loses patience with pitchers quickly.   

Givens is giving up a HR on nearly 24% of the fly balls he allows to lefties. He gives up a bit too much hard contact but his gb% & his K% v lefties are great, the HR rate vs lefties is indicative of bad luck & a small sample size. His HR per fb at home is nearly 19%, that's ridiculous. I expect his hard contact % to be up in the 2nd half but actually incredibly low, I don't have his numbers by inning here but I'd like to see how he's doing by inning.

Here's an interesting note hidden in his numbers, his K/9 v lefties at home is 12.41 while his HR/9 v lefties at home is 2.19 -- on the road those numbers are 6.55/9 & 0.81 HR/9. Away v lefties his gb % is over 64% & his hard contact is a phenomenal 14.3% with 54.7% soft contact which is also unbelievable. 

Gives has given up 8 of his 10 HRs at home - I'd link these numbers to overthrowing in front of his home crowd. The high Ks, low walks, more HRs indicates a mentality to challenge everyone when in Camden.