Mike Baumann 2023

[interloper]

Shoutout to Mike Baumann, man. This guy has really helped glue the bullpen together all year. And his finest outing to date was last night going 2.2 IP of scoreless baseball against the Rays. Picked up Tyler Wells and ended up with yet another win. 

He's now 7-0 (?!) with a 3.49 ERA and 1.265 WHIP in 49 IP, striking out 9.6/9. Good for a 0.8 rWAR out of the 'pen. That's solid! 

There's something extremely satisfying about finally turning this pre-Elias draft pick into a good ML reliever. It took a long time, but he's here and contributing to a playoff-caliber team. The decision to specifically make him a bullpen arm was, IMO, long overdue. So I was pumped when they finally made that call this year. 

He's not the sexiest bullpen arm, but he's got a nice fastball and a nice curveball. That will get you places if you can command, which he has done this year (sort of, anyway - 5.1 BB/9). I'm hoping there's another gear they find that gets him into setup-man territory, but if not, I think the fact that we developed a useful pre-Elias arm is a big win either way. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by interloper

[sportsfan8703]

He's definitely shown that he can be a durable reliever over 162.  In a playoff series, it might be better to have someone with a bit more upside on the A side of the pen.  

[Aristotelian]

Yeah, that 2.2 innings jumped out at me. Did anyone during or after the game offer why they extended him so much? Seems like they could also have used Baker, Coulombe, or Irvin without compromising anyone's availability for Philly. 

Just one earned run (plus one unearned in July). He got off to a great start in April but then a 7.53 May, followed by 3.48 June. ERA is now at lowest point since May 18. He still scares me but I can buy into him as the 7th inning guy, although I would still prefer a trade.

[RZNJ]

The walks are why he’s not quite A team reliever.   He’s a keeper.  Hopefully, he gains the consistency to be a next level reliever.

[interloper]

11 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Yeah, that 2.2 innings jumped out at me. Did anyone during or after the game offer why they extended him so much? Seems like they could also have used Baker, Coulombe, or Irvin without compromising anyone's availability for Philly. 

Just one earned run (plus one unearned in July). He got off to a great start in April but then a 7.53 May, followed by 3.48 June. ERA is now at lowest point since May 18. He still scares me but I can buy into him as the 7th inning guy, although I would still prefer a trade.

I honestly think it was Hyde managing the game like a playoff game. He saw that Baumann was rolling, and given his previous starting experience just let him roll on. I loved it, honestly. Baker has been a coin flip for awhile, and Coulombe was shaky his last time out. Sometimes you just let the guy pitch. Hyde has a good feel for the game. You saw him confront Wells earlier in the game when it was obvious he wasn't right. Wells argued to stay in, and it didn't work out. Hyde had the right idea and if the bullpen wasn't so taxed, I bet he would have pulled him. 

[e16bball]

7 minutes ago, interloper said:

I honestly think it was Hyde managing the game like a playoff game. He saw that Baumann was rolling, and given his previous starting experience just let him roll on. I loved it, honestly. Baker has been a coin flip for awhile, and Coulombe was shaky his last time out. Sometimes you just let the guy pitch. Hyde has a good feel for the game. You saw him confront Wells earlier in the game when it was obvious he wasn't right. Wells argued to stay in, and it didn't work out. Hyde had the right idea and if the bullpen wasn't so taxed, I bet he would have pulled him. 

I agree. We are struggling desperately to find anyone who can consistently get outs, as it seems like these middle relievers are all running very hot and cold. Some days they’ve got their A stuff, some days they get lit up. Pretty much across the board.

Perhaps they’ve decided to try to minimize the damage of that variance by sticking with guys longer on the days when they do have things going well. It seems like their preference is to use everyone in one-inning stints — but some nights that means you’ve gotta count on 3-4 different guys to hold it together for an inning until you get to Bautista. That’s been a tall order with the extreme inconsistency in this pen, eventually one of these guys proves to be the weak link in the chain on a particular night.

They did it with Coulombe against the Dodgers and now with Baumann yesterday. Wondering if we’ll see more of that.

[Jim'sKid26]

Big fan of Big Mike.

FB averaging 96.5 mph, He throws 4 pitches FB/SL/CB/CH at 54%/18%/25%/3%. 

Needs to throw more strikes as the BB are his kryptonite. He doesn't give up many hits (34 H/49 IP) but has a BB/9 = 5.14. 

Solid reliever.

[interloper]

6 minutes ago, e16bball said:

I agree. We are struggling desperately to find anyone who can consistently get outs, as it seems like these middle relievers are all running very hot and cold. Some days they’ve got their A stuff, some days they get lit up. Pretty much across the board.

Perhaps they’ve decided to try to minimize the damage of that variance by sticking with guys longer on the days when they do have things going well. It seems like their preference is to use everyone in one-inning stints — but some nights that means you’ve gotta count on 3-4 different guys to hold it together for an inning until you get to Bautista. That’s been a tall order with the extreme inconsistency in this pen, eventually one of these guys proves to be the weak link in the chain on a particular night.

They did it with Coulombe against the Dodgers and now with Baumann yesterday. Wondering if we’ll see more of that.

Yeah it really feels like they're trying to get to the trade deadline any way possible. Cano and Bautista I think will have strict usage as much as possible, while other guys will have to pick up the slack. I would expect in a blowout that Fuji can go multiple innings, too. That's part of his appeal is there should be a lot of use left in that arm as a former SP. The question is will it be useful. Hope so. 

[CTFan]

Wouldn't mind seeing him get a spot start at some point. Give some of our SP's an extra day off.

[Can_of_corn]

Baumann on Baumann (Fangraphs)

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/michael-baumann-on-mike-baumann/