GLENDALE, Ariz. — Holding late leads in close games is one of the toughest jobs for relief pitchers — and no one knows that better than White Sox veteran closer David Robertson.
Late-inning relievers deal with high-pressure situations constantly. One slip often means failure.
Robertson transitioned from a setup reliever to closer three years ago, but to him, there’s little difference between the two jobs.
“It’s the same pressure,” Robertson said. “I’m trying to get three outs and pass the ball to the next guy. It’s just when you’re doing it in the ninth inning, there’s no one to pass the ball to.”
Robertson, nicknamed “D-Rob” by teammates, once served the main setup reliever for Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. When Rivera retired in 2014, Robertson stepped into one of the most high-profile roles in baseball.
He ended up having a great 2014 with a career-high 39 saves in his first full season closing.
His success in the back-end roles of the bullpen in New York landed him a new contract with the White Sox, where he has held the closer role for the past two years. The move to closer has not appeared to hurt him.
White Sox relief pitcher Nate Jones, who sets up Robertson, agrees the two roles are similar.
“It’s no different than any other inning of the game,” Jones said. “No matter if you are the starter, reliever or the closer, we’re all trying to do the same thing. We’re trying to close that inning out.”
Pitching coach Don Cooper, meanwhile, believes there is a key difference between the two jobs.
“Sometimes the setup role is tougher than the closer’s role because you might have to go more than one inning on a lot of occasions, you might have the 2-3- 4-5 in the lineup there and sometimes as the closer you might have 7-8- 9,” Cooper said.
Cooper also believes that being the closer requires great ability and that Robertson certainly has it after saving 34 games in 2015 and 37 last season for the White Sox.
“It takes a special guy to be the closer because you’re getting the last three outs and those are always the toughest ones to get in many ways to nail down that victory.” Cooper said. “David is good at it.”
The difference between the roles may not be as subtle as the players indicated, but Robertson seems like the right person to learn from in terms of pitching in both spots.
Jones is doing just that.
He acknowledged that Robertson has done a great job at handling the late innings over the years, and he takes time to pick D-Rob’s brain when he has the chance.
“He’s done a pretty dang good job,” said Jones, who will be representing the United States in the World Baseball Classic alongside Robertson. “He brings a lot of experience over. I’m learning from him.”
Robertson has done well, and maybe the experience he gained closing in college helped him prepare for the late game situations he has endured his whole career. Maybe that is why setup man or closer makes no difference to him.
“It’s just my part of the game in baseball,” Robertson said.
