For as horrific as the bench (and left field) was for the Angels last season, they still finished only one game behind Houston for a playoff berth. Taylor Featherston was the primary utility infielder and he has since been designated for assignment—that should tell you how much the Angels valued him. Featherston is a nice defensive player but he’s only slightly better than a pitcher in the batter’s box, posting a 28 wRC+ in 2015 in 169 plate appearances. It isn’t unreasonable to believe that if the Angels had a more competent hitter occupying that playing time they’d have leapfrogged the Astros in the final standings.
Enter Cliff Pennington, the 31-year-old who has made a decent career in Oakland and Arizona as a bench player. Pennington struggled last year to the tune of -0.4 fWAR, but we can probably discount it as a fluke or run of tough luck. In 2014 Pennington was worth 1.6 fWAR in only 68 games, and for his career he has posted an 82 wRC+. That’s still a below average hitter, but consider that the career wRC+ difference between Pennington and Featherston is the same difference between 2015 Mike Trout and 2015 Ben Zobrist. That’s a massive upgrade, like going from 7-11 Go-Go Taquitos to a pre-norovirus Chipotle burrito. A Chipotle burrito isn’t the best burrito, but it’s good and satisfying enough to where you won’t regret having eaten it. Now is where the fast-food metaphor ends.
The Angels won’t lose much with Pennington’s glove, either. He has a positive DRS and UZR at second base, shortstop, and third base, the three positions he’ll be asked to play in a reserve role. His strongest position? Second base, where he has saved 11 runs in over 950 innings in his career. Barring injury to Andrelton Simmons or Yunel Escobar, that’s probably where Pennington is going to see most of his action, particularly as a late-inning defensive substitution for Johnny Giavotella if the Angels have a lead. And if the opposition ties the game up anyway, Pennington isn’t the automatic out the way Featherston was.
The Angels are a better team with Pennington than without. He’s an actual, legitimate Major League player, and he separates the Angels from resorting to whatever they have stashed at Triple-A Salt Lake.
Position: SS/2B | Age (2016): 32
Bats: S | Throws: R
Height: 5’10” | Weight: 195
2015 WAR: 0.2
2015 in a Tweet
The BABIP Dragons attacked Pennington. He posted his worst offensive season despite posting a 24.2% line drive rate, his best since 2011.
2016 Projections
[table id=168 /]Projections for bench players…not the most exciting. ZiPS projects the most playing time of the three AND the worst numbers for Pennington. Let’s all hope ZiPS is very, very wrong. PECOTA and Steamer have a little more faith in the bat thanks to some better batted ball luck, and I would say those plate appearance totals are more accurate, assuming the Angels have a fortunate run of health.
Spray Chart
Pennington’s spray charts are a bit misleading because he’s a switch-hitter, but we can glean even from the 2015 data that he’s a stronger hitter from the left side. He owns a career 87 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers compared to 66 against left-handed hitters. On the rare occasion he does homer, chances are it’ll come from the left side of the plate; 25 of his 30 career homers are against right-handed pitchers.
Zone Profile
Pennington receives the lion’s share of his at-bats from the left side, so the chart represents how pitchers attack him most often: low and outside. With good reason. Pennington crushes pitches low and in. Pitchers didn’t attack Pennington much up in the zone* in 2015 and he’s not prolific facing those offerings, so it will be interesting to see if opponents try to exploit that more. The strategy seems to make sense. If Pennington hits the ball in the air, chances are it won’t inflict much damage.
* This could explain why Pennington flew out more infrequently last year.
Fun Fact
Pennington is the first position player to ever pitch in a postseason game. I’m not sure if that’s surprising. I think it is? I’m too lazy to look up the exact number of postseason games that have been played, and how many of those were the sort of curb stompings where a position player would pitch, but you would think it would have happened at least once before sometime in the last 100+ years.
Anyway, in Game 4 of last year’s ALCS the Royals were crushing the Blue Jays 12-2 in the ninth inning. Pennington, who was traded to the Jays in August, came in to pitch with two outs. He inherited two runners and allowed both to score on back-back base hits before Zobrist mercifully popped out to end the inning.
What to Watch For
This is related to my Johnny Giavotella WTWF, but how soon would Scioscia give Johnny G the hook if he struggles early? Pennington is a nice player to have on a roster, but it’s a different matter if he’s starting every day. Giavotella lacks the defensive versatility of Pennington, so thrusting Pennington into starting duty also saps the Angels’ depth and flexibility. It may seem like a paradox, but Pennington has more value on the Angels the less he plays. Ideally, we only see him as an occasional Sunday/doubleheader starter or as a late-inning defensive substitution.
A Bold Prediction
Not only will Pennington pitch again this postseason, he will become the shutdown seventh-inning option that stabilizes the bullpen and leads the Angels to their second World Series championship.
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Previous Previews: Yunel Escobar; Kole Calhoun; Mike Trout; Albert Pujols; C.J. Cron; Daniel Nava; Carlos Pérez; Johnny Giavotella; Geovany Soto; Andrelton Simmons
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