Bill Chuck’s love for the LOOGY

SHARE Bill Chuck’s love for the LOOGY

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

RkPlayerIPGRTmGFSVHRERBBSOERABFABBAOBPSLGOPS
1Josh Edgin27.147NYM5019646281.3210497.196.240.299.539
2Josh Outman28.140TOT602410916262.86122105.229.331.429.759
3Kyle Crockett30.043CLE7026668281.80122109.239.308.349.657
4Joe Thatcher30.153TOT903616134273.86135123.293.331.423.754
5Ian Krol32.245DET5142231813284.96154138.304.370.536.906
6Darin Downs34.245HOU7028222119275.45148124.226.340.355.695
7Matt Thornton36.064TOT8033978281.75152135.244.307.289.596
8Randy Choate36.061STL6027181813324.50148127.213.306.283.590
9Manny Parra36.253CIN8139201918344.66164141.277.363.418.781

Provided by Baseball-Reference.comView Play Index Tool Used

Generated 11/6/2014.Nine to Know: # of games in which a lefty reliever faced two or fewer batters

RkPlayerGamesIPHHRBBSOTeam
1Matt Thornton3813.0100511NYY,WSN
2Marc Rzepczynski3813.1110313CLE
3Javier Lopez3712.0131710SFG
4Randy Choate3612.160610STL
5Charlie Furbush3413.091215SEA
6Joe Thatcher278.211008ARI,LAA
7Josh Edgin268.15107NYM
8Scott Downs266.114145CHW,KCR
9Luis Avilan269.26053ATL

Provided by Baseball-Reference.comView Play Index Tool Used

Generated 11/6/2014.Nine to Know: Lefty relievers who appeared in the most games and faced just one batter

RkPlayerGamesIPHERHRBBSOTm
1Marc Rzepczynski236.130015CLE
2Josh Edgin236.241005NYM
3Randy Choate236.031026STL
4Matt Thornton216.031017NYY,WSN
5Wesley Wright195.211013CHC
6Charlie Furbush185.112113SEA
7Scott Downs173.146042CHW,KCR
8Javier Lopez163.241114SFG
9Luis Avilan165.020011ATL

Provided by Baseball-Reference.comView 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

GPAABHXBHHRKBBAVGOBPSLUGOPS
Randy Choate (STL)568875721288.093.205.147.351
Sean Doolittle(OAK)477776930320.118.118.158.276
Aroldis Chapman(CIN)314338510253.132.214.158.372
Tony Sipp (HOU)51988712532210.138.227.276.503
Aaron Loup (TOR)58102891472226.157.232.315.547
Jerry Blevins (WSH)581171061760406.160.202.217.419
Andrew Miller (BAL)5898921552485.163.206.261.467
Will Smith (MIL)711069616524710.167.245.271.516
Josh Outman (NYY)3768591043168.169.269.339.608

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 11/6/2014

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