By Bill Chuck
Special to the Sun-Times
It is awards season and one award that never receives the attention that it deserves is the LOOGY of the Year. A LOOGY is a Left-handed One Out Guy. He is your reliever that you bring in from the ‘pen when you want to retire that tough left-handed batter and then remove him before he gets lit up by right-handed bats.
Come to think of it, as I describe the LOOGY, I realize that the award gets the small amount of attention that it deserves.
Let’s look at some LOOGY contenders.
Nine to Know: Lefty relievers with at least 40 appearances, fewest innings pitched
Rk | Player | IP | GR | Tm | GF | SV | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA | BF | AB | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Josh Edgin | 27.1 | 47 | NYM | 5 | 0 | 19 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 28 | 1.32 | 104 | 97 | .196 | .240 | .299 | .539 |
2 | Josh Outman | 28.1 | 40 | TOT | 6 | 0 | 24 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 26 | 2.86 | 122 | 105 | .229 | .331 | .429 | .759 |
3 | Kyle Crockett | 30.0 | 43 | CLE | 7 | 0 | 26 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 28 | 1.80 | 122 | 109 | .239 | .308 | .349 | .657 |
4 | Joe Thatcher | 30.1 | 53 | TOT | 9 | 0 | 36 | 16 | 13 | 4 | 27 | 3.86 | 135 | 123 | .293 | .331 | .423 | .754 |
5 | Ian Krol | 32.2 | 45 | DET | 5 | 1 | 42 | 23 | 18 | 13 | 28 | 4.96 | 154 | 138 | .304 | .370 | .536 | .906 |
6 | Darin Downs | 34.2 | 45 | HOU | 7 | 0 | 28 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 27 | 5.45 | 148 | 124 | .226 | .340 | .355 | .695 |
7 | Matt Thornton | 36.0 | 64 | TOT | 8 | 0 | 33 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 28 | 1.75 | 152 | 135 | .244 | .307 | .289 | .596 |
8 | Randy Choate | 36.0 | 61 | STL | 6 | 0 | 27 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 32 | 4.50 | 148 | 127 | .213 | .306 | .283 | .590 |
9 | Manny Parra | 36.2 | 53 | CIN | 8 | 1 | 39 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 34 | 4.66 | 164 | 141 | .277 | .363 | .418 | .781 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/6/2014.Nine to Know: # of games in which a lefty reliever faced two or fewer batters
Rk | Player | Games | IP | H | HR | BB | SO | Team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Matt Thornton | 38 | 13.0 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 11 | NYY,WSN |
2 | Marc Rzepczynski | 38 | 13.1 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 13 | CLE |
3 | Javier Lopez | 37 | 12.0 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 10 | SFG |
4 | Randy Choate | 36 | 12.1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 10 | STL |
5 | Charlie Furbush | 34 | 13.0 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 15 | SEA |
6 | Joe Thatcher | 27 | 8.2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ARI,LAA |
7 | Josh Edgin | 26 | 8.1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7 | NYM |
8 | Scott Downs | 26 | 6.1 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 5 | CHW,KCR |
9 | Luis Avilan | 26 | 9.2 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 3 | ATL |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/6/2014.Nine to Know: Lefty relievers who appeared in the most games and faced just one batter
Rk | Player | Games | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | Tm |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marc Rzepczynski | 23 | 6.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | CLE |
2 | Josh Edgin | 23 | 6.2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | NYM |
3 | Randy Choate | 23 | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | STL |
4 | Matt Thornton | 21 | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | NYY,WSN |
5 | Wesley Wright | 19 | 5.2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | CHC |
6 | Charlie Furbush | 18 | 5.1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | SEA |
7 | Scott Downs | 17 | 3.1 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | CHW,KCR |
8 | Javier Lopez | 16 | 3.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | SFG |
9 | Luis Avilan | 16 | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ATL |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/6/2014.Randy Choate is LOOGY of the Year
Check out Randy Choate’s terrific numbers against lefties and you will see why Choate is my choice as LOOGY of the Year. In 75 AB, he allowed just seven hits to lefties and just one homer. While lefties hit Choate at a .093 rate, but righties hit a robust .385.
Having said that, you have to admire the work of Sean Doolittle and Aroldis Chapmanwho were full-time relievers who simply buried lefties, yet were also so dominant against righties that they proved to be outstanding closers.
Lefty relievers vs lefty batters
G | PA | AB | H | XBH | HR | K | BB | AVG | OBP | SLUG | OPS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Randy Choate (STL) | 56 | 88 | 75 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 28 | 8 | .093 | .205 | .147 | .351 |
Sean Doolittle(OAK) | 47 | 77 | 76 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 0 | .118 | .118 | .158 | .276 |
Aroldis Chapman(CIN) | 31 | 43 | 38 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 3 | .132 | .214 | .158 | .372 |
Tony Sipp (HOU) | 51 | 98 | 87 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 22 | 10 | .138 | .227 | .276 | .503 |
Aaron Loup (TOR) | 58 | 102 | 89 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 22 | 6 | .157 | .232 | .315 | .547 |
Jerry Blevins (WSH) | 58 | 117 | 106 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 40 | 6 | .160 | .202 | .217 | .419 |
Andrew Miller (BAL) | 58 | 98 | 92 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 48 | 5 | .163 | .206 | .261 | .467 |
Will Smith (MIL) | 71 | 106 | 96 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 47 | 10 | .167 | .245 | .271 | .516 |
Josh Outman (NYY) | 37 | 68 | 59 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 8 | .169 | .269 | .339 | .608 |
Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 11/6/2014