Fernando Rodney Is Ricky Vaughn
Fernando Rodney’s 2012 season is redefining relief domination. The veteran flamethrower is turning into the real life version of Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn, transforming from a wild pitcher who never harnessed his stuff into one of the surest ninth innings in baseball. Rodney will carry a 38 FIP- and an incredible 11 ERA- into his next appearance. It’s only 22.2 innings, but Rodney would need to walk 25 batters and allow 15 runs in his next 9.1 innings to equal his totals from 32 innings last season.
Ricky Vaughn didn’t find the strike zone until manager Lou Brown discovered that his fireballer needed glasses. It’s unclear if Joe Maddon, pitching coach Jim Hickey or some other Rays coach is the Lou Brown in Rodney’s story, but Rodney definitely has his own version of Vaughn’s glasses this season. Observe, Rodney’s release point in 2012, compared to 2011:
Although most release point changes come from changes in arm angle, that isn’t the case here. Instead — as was first pointed out by former FanGraphs author R.J. Anderson over at Baseball Prospectus — Rodney has shifted on the rubber:
The real change for Rodney has been tremendous control — although an 8.74 K/9 is solid, it’s only half a point above his career average. It’s the three walks in 22.2 innings that’s completely new, as he’s never even ran a BB/9 less than three in his career. It’s tough to draw a direct line between his mound shift and his control, but the results are stark. Specifically, he almost never misses off the inside corner any more with his fastball. Take a look at the difference between 2012 and 2011 (all graphics from catcher’s viewpoint):
The highlighted sections denote pitches inside to lefties and righties. There are a good number of pitches inside these zones, particularly to righties. Fast forward to 2012:
Rodney has thrown about half as many pitches and two-thirds as many innings as he did last year with the Angels — but he has managed to almost completely avoid these zones inside, off the plate where he returned to so frequently last season. Even the inner thirds, over the plate, are significantly more empty this season. He seems to be making a distinct effort to throw to the outer half of the plate — and unlike in previous seasons — he’s actually been able to consistently hit his spots.
Chances are that Rodney’s shift on the mound is but a small piece of a larger reworking of the way he pitches. But much like Rick Vaughn’s spectacular spectacles, it is by far the most noticeable. This is not just the same Fernando Rodney who could never hit his spots simply showing up and magically popping the zone again and again. The Rays have changed something fundamental about Rodney’s approach, and now at age 35, he’s showing the stuff that makes him among the best relief pitchers in the league.
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pretty interesting stuff… this article is a very nice example of how player scouting can become something visually explicit through the use of graphs.
Better to me Ricky Vaughn than Charlie Sheen: then again maybe it’s pretty cool being Charlie.
Rodney sure did make every save exciting in Detroit.
So basically the beer pong strategy of going over to the side to line up the angled cups wasn’t working for a MLB pitcher? Hmmm
Those inside pitches, are they a specific type of pitch? (Maybe different for each handedness hitter?)
Rodney is in the zone more (55% vs 45% last year and 50% the bunch of years before that.) but it’s his contact rate that really jumps out. Maybe he’s in the zone more early in the count, allowing him to take more advantage of nasty stuff in advantageous counts, where hitters are more likely to swing?
Jack Parkman hit .900 against Rick Vaughn, thats Edgar Martinez vs Mariano Rivera esque.
Do the Rays have something going here? They turned reclamation project Kyle Farnsworth into an All-Star caliber reliever last year (Mike Williams not withstanding), and now this year with Rodney. Can’t wait to see what washed up reliever they sign on the cheap this offseason.
don’t forget benoit and soriano in 2010
What about Soriano was washed up again?
Soriano was already really good in his own right and Benoit had success before his surgery.
I don’t think you can count Soriano. In 2009 he had 102 Ks in 75 innings with a 1.06 WHIP.
Balfour and Wheeler you could argue for though. Rays seem to have a way with their reliever reclamations.
you guys all have extreme acne
@Jimmy-I think they have clear beautiful complexions.
he aint washed up here in st. pete. the fans are starting to wear their caps crooked when rodney comes to the mound. check him and our david price out at the all star game
He was still had for a minor league deal though, no?
His K/9 may not seem much improved (an improvement of 6%), but his K-rate — A MARKEDLY BETTER TOOL THAN K/9 IN MY HUMBLE OPININZ — is up to 25.6% from 20.7% — that’s a 25% improvement.
I’m not sure who it was over at DRaysbay, but they had an article talking about Rodney’s change-up having the most swing and miss stuff on the whole pitching staff. He wasn’t throwing it all that often over with the Angels but has thrown it significantly more with the Rays now, helping lead to his higher K-rate, less walks, and over all rags-to-riches story
If you look at Rodney’s Pitch FX, his career 4-seam% is 59.2 but this year it’s 37%. His career 2-seam is 4.9 % but he’s using his two-seamer 32.9% of the time this year. He’s also using his change up less 24.8% this year vs his 33.9% career usage. His usage of pitches also seem to be triggering his success.
Man, you guys are jinxes.