Grant Balfour Is Good At Relief.

by P Brady on Sep 3, 2008 2:18 PM EDT

Grant Balfour has been really good. Good enough to have a tRA of 2.20(!), and a tRA+ of 196(!!!): That's right, Balfour has been 96% better than the average AL Pitcher. So what has he changed? For one, his fastball has gotten a 1.5 MPH bump since last year, and he's been throwing it 15% more, to a total of 90% percent fastballs. By the way, lets see his FB against RHB, who he's been slightly better against then lefties.

Tough to make solid contact off of, as you can see from the foul balls, lets see the break:

Balfour's Fastball breaks in on righties on the hands, the most a hitter could want to do with bloop it. Grant's go to pitch is a deathtrap against righties. His control has also been slightly better, so its not all velo and break, but its been very nice to see a guy who started the year in Durham perform like this. If he is willing to sign relatively cheap during the offseason, I'd definitely want to go for it before the relief ace position gets too expensive.

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What's his tRA vs. guys like Rivera and Papelbon?

by R.J. Anderson on Sep 3, 2008 2:32 PM EDT reply actions

Rivera: 1.83

Papelbon: 2.22

GRANT BALFOUR HAS BEEN BETTER THAN JONATHON PAPELBON. TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

"STP is me. He can do everything I can do." - R.J. Anderson

by P Brady on Sep 3, 2008 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

V. Balfour's 2.2 not too shabby.

by R.J. Anderson on Sep 3, 2008 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Nathan: 2.72

K-Rod: 3.54

bahahahahahahahah

"STP is me. He can do everything I can do." - R.J. Anderson

by P Brady on Sep 3, 2008 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions

But records...

::whine whine::

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

by Sandy Kazmir on Sep 3, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

amazing

by Underdogs on Sep 3, 2008 8:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Has he actually not thrown a single pitch other than a fastball all year?

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Sep 3, 2008 2:34 PM EDT reply actions

7% sliders

"STP is me. He can do everything I can do." - R.J. Anderson

by P Brady on Sep 3, 2008 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Balfour's a great example of a guy who should be much better in relief than starting

There’s no way he gets away with 93% fastballs as a starter. And his control is iffy, but the increase in K’s makes a huge difference.

by Sky Kalkman on Sep 3, 2008 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Question:

What other pitches does he have?

I hear a lot of commentators mention the number of pitches a pitcher has—where can one find out this info?

by plasticman on Sep 3, 2008 2:47 PM EDT reply actions

Fangraphs

"STP is me. He can do everything I can do." - R.J. Anderson

by P Brady on Sep 3, 2008 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Or Kalk

http://baseball.bornbybits.com/2008/pitchers.html

by R.J. Anderson on Sep 3, 2008 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions

be careful saying a tRA+ of 193 means the pitcher is 93% better than average

sure, it’s mathematically correct, but it doesn’t mean he’s been 93% more valuable than someone with a tRA of 100 in the same number of innings.

an example: for relievers, replacement level tRA is about 5.00. average is about 4.25. Balfour’s at 2.25. therefore an average pitcher is .75 runs better than average per nine innings while balfour is 2.75 runs better. so Balfour is really about 3.5 times better than the average reliever, in the same number of innings (before considering leverage).

by Sky Kalkman on Sep 3, 2008 2:51 PM EDT reply actions