June 2, 2023
Los Angeles Angels — Flamethrower Ben Joyce, drafted in 2022, burst upon the scene this week. He brought his electric stuff to face the Astros Thursday, throwing 10 pitches at 101 mph or above and striking out Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve in his one inning of work. They can’t keep Joyce away from the late innings for too long. We’ll speculatively throw him in this hierarchy.
Updated hierarchy: Estevez | Devenski | Joyce.
Colorado Rockies — Pierce Johnson failed to protect the Rockies’ lead Thursday, yielding two runs to blow the save and take the loss, leaving him with a 6.85 ERA and 1.88 WHIP. Yikes. How long can this go on? Former closer Daniel Bard has been awesome this year in limited action (0.57 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 11 Ks over 15 IP), and as soon as he’s ready for more higher leverage work, you’d have to think a change is coming.
Hierarchy remains: *Johnson | Lawrence | Bard.
* = closer-by-committee
New York Mets – Drew Smith earned the easiest type of save Thursday – the one-out variety — after tossing just one 95-mph pitch to induce a game-ending flyout. It was Smith’s second save of the year. The Vulture Save Watch warned a vulture save was coming, naming Brooks Raley as a candidate. Raley recorded the first two outs of the ninth and allowing a single before giving way to Smith to close it out. In other news, Edwin Diaz has not ruled out a return this season.
Hierarchy remains: *Robertson | Ottavino | Raley.
* = closer-by-committee
New York Yankees — Tommy Kahnle has been activated off the 60-day IL and could be in line for late-innings work for the Yankees. We’ll see how he’s deployed.
Hierarchy remains: *King | Peralta | Holmes.
* = closer-by-committee
Philadelphia Phillies – Jose Alvarado will begin a rehab assignment Saturday for the team’s Triple-A affiliate. He would likely work his way back into the late-innings mix, but whether he regains the closer’s role is not clear.
Hierarchy remains: Kimbrel | Soto | Dominguez.
Seattle Mariners – Andres Munoz is beginning to work his way back for the Mariners, with a return date coming as early as next week. He’ll likely slip into a setup role behind Paul Sewald when he returns.
Hierarchy remains: Sewald | Topa | Brash.
VULTURE SAVE WATCH
Today:
1. Justin Lawrence (COL) – Pierce Johnson threw 21 pitches in an ugly outing Thursday.
Saturday:
1. Adam Ottavino (NYM) – If he goes Friday, that would be three of four for David Robertson.
2. Trevor Stephan (CLE) – A Friday appearance would be three of five for Emmanuel Clase.
