Boston Red Sox Reliever Brad Ziegler only goes to extremes
By Tracy Katzke
Boston Red Sox reliever Brad Ziegler has produced outings of brilliance and of horror. Nonetheless, he has produced very few, if any, nondescript outings.
Admittedly, Brad Ziegler was placed in a tenuous situation in yesterday’s Red Sox debacle against Detroit; nonetheless, is it unreasonable to request that a ball be put in play for the eventual winning run to score. Ziegler’s walk to Austin Romine, after the Tigers had loaded the bases, forced home the eventual winning run in the person of Justin Upton. Ziegler may not have secured an out were the ball put in play; however, at the very least allow the fielders an opportunity to make a play, as opposed to gift wrapping a victory for Detroit.
Ziegler has now blown twice as many saves, 4, in his short tenure with the Boston Red Sox than he had during his 2016 time in Arizona, 2.
His arrival into the American League East can certainly account for some of his poor performances; however, to be completely candid, I expected much more production out of the right-hander.
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After yesterday’s loss, I began to peruse Ziegler’s pitching performances in his fifteen appearances for the Red Sox and what I uncovered was rather astonishing. In those 15 appearances, he has performed brilliantly in ten of them, and horrifically in the remaining five. His performances range from “very good” to “very bad,” with no middle ground.
In Ziegler’s 10 good outings, he has amassed the following statistics: three saves in three save opportunities, 10.0 Innings pitched, a BAA of .094, a WHIP of 0.40, and a FIP of 1.45.
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These compare extremely favorably to his statistics amassed in his five bad outings: 0 saves in 4 save opportunities, i.e. 4 blown saves, 4.2 innings pitched, a BAA of .440, a WHIP of 3.43, and a FIP of 6.21
Upon delving further into the peripheral statistics, the discrepancies are just as enormous. In Ziegler’s 10 good outings he has allowed zero of three inherited runners to score, has a Walk Rate of 2.9%, along with a Strikeout Rate of 29.4%.
In Ziegler’s five bad outings, he has allowed 3 out of 4 inherited runners to score, has a Walk Rate of 16.1%, double the league average, and a Strikeout Rate of 22.6%.
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When Ziegler takes the mound, it appears that he will perform brilliantly or tragically, but nowhere in between. These polarizing performances bring back memories of a wise quote from the movie “Forrest Gump,” and one that epitomizes the pitching performances of Brad Ziegler, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are gonna get.”