Shawn Kelley
The first eight games, the Mariners were able to survive several performances where their relievers couldn’t throw strikes. Morrow, Aardsma, and Corcoran have been used as the primary high leverage relievers, and they’ve combined to issue 13 walks in 12 innings. They’ve gotten outs, but every save has been scary.
Then, there’s Shawn Kelley. Here’s what he did tonight:
21 of his 26 pitches were strikes, and as you can see, two of the five pitches that were called balls were in the strike zone. He ran his fastball up to 95 a couple of times and he worked in six breaking balls to keep hitters off balance. Fastball/slider relievers usually have problems with LH hitters, but Kelley’s slider moves like a splitter – those hard downward break pitches are extremely effective against opposite handed hitters.
He’s a rookie, yes. He’s only thrown three major league innings. I know.
But the next time the Mariners are holding on to a one run lead in the 8th inning, he’s the guy I’d want on the mound.
I agree, relievers play an important role, but they don’t necessarily need to throw strikes. Strikes of course are nice, but I mostly want to see a reliever simply throw the batters off balance by throwing something different than what the they’ve been used to for the last 6-8 innings. Ground balls are good too and they force the defense to get more experience and teamwork.
I would much rather have a more “well rounded” team than a couple superstars, and it looks like the Ms are starting the season playing good team small ball. Hope they keep it up!!
Anyway, excellent post and very interesting 🙂
but, but, where’s the veteran goodness? 🙂
Talent and skill, oh, my!
I’m going to be really interested to see what happens tomorrow with a rookie starting.
What are the chances he ends up as closer?
Especially if Morrow continues to walk the world.
Yeah, I’m awaiting my “Jakubauskas as a Starter” post.
That post kinda has been done already, harry. It’s called Ryan Franklin 2.0 or something like that. Anyway, that’s the post’s point. He throws a lot of pitch types for a lot of strikes but doesn’t have an “out” pitch. Classic innings-eater, if I’m remembering right.
Ah yes, but can he handle the Paris-Roubaix cobblestones in the wet?
mikeeinseattle: I agree, relievers play an important role, but they don’t necessarily need to throw strikes.
Isn’t that a Jeff Nelson quote?
I’m not sure if it has been brought up yet, but another reason to throw love toward Kelley…He graduated from Austin Peay State University, yes he’s a Governor!
Wasn’t there another dominate Mariner reliever who was a Governor?….
Let’s go Peay!
Our beloved George The Pear Sherrill.
Wasn’t there another dominate Mariner reliever who was a Governor?
It doesn’t appear there was, no.My mistake, relied on draft results and forgot Sherrill wasn’t drafted.YES! LET’S GO PEAY!!!!
I’m tired of the Ministry of Silly Walks (h/t to Kermit @ LL) in the high-leverage situations – let’s bring in Kelley for sure!
Mark Lowe looked pretty filthy last night also.
Colm wrote: Ah yes, but can he handle the Paris-Roubaix cobblestones in the wet?
If this Shawn Kelly performs like the other Sean Kelly did, we’re in for some gritty performances. Let’s hope he’s the second coming…
BTW, I chased Sean Kelly down in DC about 15 years ago, and got his autograph, but no one else did ;> Thrill of a lifetime.
And he went to Ballard HS! (OK, in Louisville).
Fontaine has taken a lot of crap for taking what turned out to be a lot of relievers (and Clement) high, but Kelley is an example of where Fontaine’s strengths lie – drafted in the 13th round, quick-mover, decent (if limited) upside.
Kelley was just filthy last night. That fastball he through to K Figgins was one of the best pitches any Seattle pitcher has thrown all year.
That fastball he through to K Figgins was one of the best pitches any Seattle pitcher has thrown all year.
Mark Lowe’s slider and Erik Bedard’s curve disagrees with you.
How much of this can we chalk up to as just having a good night? Or in other words, do you think he can perform like this consistently?
It seems unlikely he’ll be able to sustain this. Almost nobody could. I mean, his stats so far are better than what he was putting up in AA… a lot better. Unless you think the Angels and A’s batters he’s faced are inferior to what he saw in West Tennessee, it’s fair to expect him to get roughed up sooner or later. He might not be as bad as the CHONE projections but there’s no way he’s going to be as perfect as he has been so far.
That said, control counts for a lot, especially when you consider the other options in the pen. If he can be consistent with that, and is only asked to do it for an inning at a time, even the real, imperfect version of him will still be a good option in these kinds of high-leverage situations.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about Kelley is that his entire professional experience at all levels amounts to 77 total innings pitched. Maybe he’s like those Wile E Coyote cartoons where he remains airborne over the canyon for just as long as he doesn’t look down?
Slippery Elmer on April 16th, 2009 8:13 am mikeeinseattle: I agree, relievers play an important role, but they don’t necessarily need to throw strikes.
Isn’t that a Jeff Nelson quote?
Slippery Elmer, I’m flattered that anyone would accuse me of plagerizing a famous person’s quotes. However, no I came up with that myself. In addition, I just looked up Jeff Nelson’s most famous quotes and didn’t see anything that even resembled my statement. In closing, I’m touched that you would think that what I wrote is someone else’s statement. Guess my writing isn’t all that bad 🙂