Bryan Shaw, Colorado Rockies
6.75 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 19.1% strikeout rate, 11.8% walk rate in 14.2 IP
Relief pitcher stats can get wacky rather easily because the sample size is much smaller, and that’s partially the case here with Shaw. He had a horrendous first half with Colorado (7.23 ERA in 37.1 innings) but settled down a little after the All-Star break (3.12 ERA in 17.1 innings).
Either way, this was not what Colorado expected when they poured a bunch of money into their bullpen by re-signing Jake McGee, along with bringing Shaw and Wade Davis into the mix. Without Adam Ottavino, the performance of the remaining hurlers will get amplified.
Shaw is a cutter-heavy pitcher (84.3% usage rate in ’18), so the biggest priority will be getting that part of his arsenal under control. After limiting opposing hitters to a 6.4% walk rate, 20.8% strikeout rate, and 76 wRC+ in 2017, those numbers all worsened to 11.3%, 18.9%, and 149, respectively, last season.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book and created an online class about how to get started as a sports blogger. You can sign up for his email newsletter here.
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