Tim Dierkes over at RotoAuthority posted a short note yesterday on who would close between Corpas or Taylor Buchholz should Brian Fuentes be traded as has been rumored and I wanted to comment further on this topic. I will agree with the belief that Corpas will be given the first shot, but I will also make the bold claim that he will keep the job for the rest of the season and do a solid job.

If we look at Corpas’ full season numbers, we find a pitcher who has no business being given a 2nd chance in the closer’s role, and one who might get me mocked for saying he’ll actually succeed in the role. A 5.36 ERA and mediocre 32/17 K/BB ratio over 45.1 innings is not a stat line to get excited about. However, a poor first 2 months to the season has really dragged down his season line.

From June 1st on, it looks like the good Corpas has re-emered, as he’s posted an 18/1 K/BB ratio and 50% groundball rate with a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings. For the season, Corpas is sporting a 54% groundball rate, after posting a 57% rate last year, so all those grounders certainly help given his home field.  The one blemish is that his average fastball velocity is down to just 91.4 MPH this year, after sitting at 93.1 last year, but I’m not sure if most of that stems from earlier in the season when he was struggling and his velocity has returned, or if it’s still down. Either way, he seems to have corrected whatever problems he was having that caused his early season struggles.

Although he was lucky last year to finish the season with a 2.08 ERA, he has a very solid skill set with good control and lots of ground balls, and a decent enough strikeout rate. If he’s still sitting in your league’s free agent pool, I’d make a pre-emptive pickup before news of a Fuentes trade is broadcast all over the Internet and someone else beats you to the punch.  

Questions, comments, criticisms, praise, expert league invitations? Email me at FBGeneralsMike@gmail.com.