Blake Treinen, Oakland Athletics
Although his transformation began last summer when he was traded to the Oakland Athletics, closer Blake Treinen has just been straight ridiculous this season. There’s no other way to describe his league-leading 0.91 to go along with a 2.45 SIERA and 33.2% strikeout rate — all of which are easily on track to be career-best marks.
One big change for the right-hander has been cranking up the usage of his cutter and completely scrapping his changeup. And when you combine the cutter and slider, their cumulative performance is just ridiculous.
His slider has produced a 53.9% strikeout rate, 29.0% swinging-strike rate, 52.3% chase rate, and a 7 wRC+. Meanwhile, his cutter has yielded a 46.7% strikeout rate, 19.6% swinging-strike rate, 57.1% chase rate, and a -8 wRC+.
These two offerings have helped Treinen’s overall chase rate improve from 31.8% in 2017 to his current mark of 42.9%.
About Matt Musico
Matt 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 about how to become a sports blogger. You can sign up for his email newsletter here.
Email
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
