Felix Bautista 2022

[Frobby]

He seems impervious to pressure.  Very calm presence on the mound.  

[dystopia]

On 9/1/2022 at 9:28 PM, Hazmat said:

Aside from the saves, is Bautista’s season comparable to some of Britton’s best with the O’s?

No. Don’t think we’ll ever see anyone compare to Britton’s 2016 season. That was another world. 

[waroriole]

5 hours ago, dystopia said:

No. Don’t think we’ll ever see anyone compare to Britton’s 2016 season. That was another world. 

Exactly! What Britton did in 2016 was unheard of. 8.8% FB rate, 0.54 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 4 ER allowed all season. I’ve never seen a season like it. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by waroriole

[sportsfan8703]

This dude is just a machine. Off day tomorrow. We need him again tonight. Maybe for 3+ outs. 

[LA2]

4 hours ago, waroriole said:

Exactly! What Britton did in 2016 was unheard of. 8.8% FB rate, 0.54 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 4 ER allowed all season. I’ve never seen a season like it. 

The pitch he was using to dominate was a mid-90's splitter. Back then it was very rare, but now quite common. I'm glad we reaped the benefits of it before the trend he started took hold!

[Jagwar]

I get a huge Lee Smith vibe from the Mountain. Imposing figure, nasty stuff, but relatively quiet demeanor.

[Ridgway22]

2 hours ago, Jagwar said:

I get a huge Lee Smith vibe from the Mountain. Imposing figure, nasty stuff, but relatively quiet demeanor.

Ohhh, good comp. Hadn't thought of that one.

[Ridgway22]

On 9/14/2022 at 8:53 AM, LA2 said:

The pitch he was using to dominate was a mid-90's splitter. Back then it was very rare, but now quite common. I'm glad we reaped the benefits of it before the trend he started took hold!

Double take.... Z Britton was throwing a splitter? (rush to interwebs to check memory and confirm)

Britton's master pitch was a sinker (2-seam fastball), not a spilt finger fastball:

Britton is a left-handed visitor who has never closed out a World Series, so he is unlike Rivera in the obvious ways. Yet in his manner of dominating the late innings, Britton is probably the closest thing to Rivera since Rivera retired in 2013. He does it all with one devastating pitch.

For Britton, the pitch is the sinker, a 96-mile-per-hour anvil that hitters simply cannot lift. According to Fangraphs, Britton’s ground-ball rate (79.7 percent) is by far the best in the majors — a full 15 percentage points better than the next-closest pitcher with at least 50 innings, Boston’s Brad Ziegler.

Britton throws the sinker almost all the time. Like Rivera, the master of the cutter, he stymies opponents with a pitch they know is coming but simply cannot handle.

Source: NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/sports/baseball/zach-britton-baltimore-orioles-cy-young-award-chances.html

[Jagwar]

16 minutes ago, Ridgway22 said:

Ohhh, good comp. Hadn't thought of that one.

Lee Smith was a beast. Bautista definitely has the same potential for intimidation. And he has Adley as a battery mate for years. Hard to believe he is a rookie. 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Jagwar said:

Lee Smith was a beast. Bautista definitely has the same potential for intimidation. And he has Adley as a battery mate for years. Hard to believe he is a rookie. 

To be clear, Bautista’s 2022 season is much better than the season Smith had for us, even though Smith led the league in saves, was an all-star and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting.  

[Jagwar]

9 hours ago, Frobby said:

To be clear, Bautista’s 2022 season is much better than the season Smith had for us, even though Smith led the league in saves, was an all-star and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting.  

I was talking about Smith's whole career, but I catch what you're saying

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Jagwar said:

I was talking about Smith's whole career, but I catch what you're saying

Yeah, I figured.  I was just pointing out how good Bautista has been.  The fact that he wasn’t our closer until Lopez got traded kind of obscures what a good season he’s having.  

[DrungoHazewood]

17 hours ago, Frobby said:

To be clear, Bautista’s 2022 season is much better than the season Smith had for us, even though Smith led the league in saves, was an all-star and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting.  

Talk about wacky award voting.  That was a different era in a lot of ways.  Lee Smith's one year in Baltimore was the strike-shortened 1994, but he pitched 38.1 innings.  Yes, he had 33 saves, but allowed 45 baserunners, 16 runs, six homers and had a 3.29 ERA.  Aside from the saves that would be like the 5th-best reliever in the 2022 Orioles' pen. Yet he was 5th in the Cy Young voting and got some down-ballot (14th place) MVP votes. 

To be fair to the Cy Young voters, 5th place was 1% of the vote, so probably one guy threw him on the ballot.  To be very harsh to the MVP voters he finished ahead of Mike Mussina who had a lower ERA in five times as many innings.  Was in a virtual tie with Wade Boggs (.433 OBP), Will Clark (.932 OPS), and Rafael Palmeiro (.942 OPS). For 38 pretty good innings where he allowed runs in six of his last nine appearances and blew five saves.

Edited September 19, 2022 by DrungoHazewood

[Moose Milligan]

20 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Talk about wacky award voting.  That was a different era in a lot of ways.  Lee Smith's one year in Baltimore was the strike-shortened 1994, but he pitched 38.1 innings.  Yes, he had 33 saves, but allowed 45 baserunners, 16 runs, six homers and had a 3.29 ERA.  Aside from the saves that would be like the 5th-best reliever in the 2022 Orioles' pen. Yet he was 5th in the Cy Young voting and got some down-ballot (14th place) MVP votes. 

To be fair to the Cy Young voters, 5th place was 1% of the vote, so probably one guy threw him on the ballot.  To be very harsh to the MVP voters he finished ahead of Mike Mussina who had a lower ERA in five times as many innings.  Was in a virtual tie with Wade Boggs (.433 OBP), Will Clark (.932 OPS), and Rafael Palmeiro (.942 OPS). For 38 pretty good innings where he allowed runs in six of his last nine appearances and blew five saves.

This is a good summary.  I was shocked to read he got 5th place because I remembered him being pretty good but not THAT good.  

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

This is a good summary.  I was shocked to read he got 5th place because I remembered him being pretty good but not THAT good.  

I’d forgotten it was the strike year.  I guess the writers who voted on it kind of mailed it in.  But 33 saves is at least a bit more impressive when you realize they only played 112 games.  That’s the equivalent of about 48 saves over a full 162 game season.