May 25, 2015
Washington Nationals – After he pitched a scoreless inning in his Nats debut Saturday, Casey Janssen was given a high-leverage opportunity, getting the last two outs of the 8th inning on Sunday ahead of Drew Storen. If he continues to pitch well, then Janssen would likely be someone that Matt Williams would look to on nights when Storen was unavailable. He has the prior closing experience that managers crave, and might be a good add in holds leagues since he figures to get more 8th inning looks.
Updated hierarchy: Storen | Janssen | Barrett.
Arizona Diamondbacks – Brad Ziegler picked up his second save on Sunday, pitching a scoreless 9th inning against the Cubs. After Enrique Burgos’s rough outing on Saturday, Ziegler figures to be the first choice for saves for Arizona, though we’ll leave the committee tag on for now. Addison Reed, meanwhile, had a good outing, pitching a clean 8th ahead of Ziegler.
Hierarchy remains: *Ziegler | Burgos | Reed.
Texas Rangers – Shawn Tolleson, meanwhile, is losing his asterisk. In striking out the side on 13 pitches last night, he earned his third save in five days and has given Texas no reason to look to anyone else for 9th inning opportunities. The “no roles” bullpen has quickly morphed into “no roles for anyone except Tolleson,” and given his ratios at this point (29 Ks and 4 BBs in 20.1 innings), the hard-throwing righty could be a very solid option for saves going forward.
Hierarchy remains: Tolleson | Kela | Ohlendorf.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
1. Mike Dunn, Miami Marlins – AJ Ramos has pitched in three straight.
2. Junichi Tazawa, Boston Red Sox – Koji Uehara has pitched in back to back games, and has yet to go three straight all season.
3. Jim Johnson, Atlanta Braves – Jason Grilli is coming off a minor injury, and has pitched in back to back games.
