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Detroit Tigers Have the Worst Bullpen Strikeout Rate in Baseball

By Matt Snyder

Sep 3, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus (7) signals to the bullpen in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 3, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus (7) signals to the bullpen in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Detroit Tigers currently own the lowest relief pitcher strikeout rate in Major League Baseball and rank in the bottom third of bullpen production overall.

Strikeout rate in major league baseball has risen every season for the last dozen years. For relief pitchers league-wide that has meant an increase from 16.5% in 2005 to the current rate of 22.3% in 2016.

The Detroit Tigers, however, are lagging behind the rest of the league this season when it comes to sending down potential hitters on strikes. The club ranks 30th in the category at 16.6% — nearly six full percentage points below average and more than one full percentage point below the next worst club.

To be fair, striking batters out isn’t the only way to be effective as a pitching staff — limiting walks and home runs are also good skills to have — but preventing balls from being put in play is the best way to ensure batters either fail to reach base or get stranded once they’re on.

The low strikeout rate doesn’t make the Tigers bullpen the worst overall, however. They’re 20th in walk rate, 25th in home run rate, 21st in ERA, 18th in FIP, 21st in xFIP, and 20th in WHIP. Still, nothing like the reliability a contending team needs to expect.

Brad Ausmus is squarely on the wobbly chair given the current losing streak and latest bullpen collapse, but he has few good options to turn to in the late innings, especially when a player like Justin Wilson (owner of a 27% strikeout rate) has a bad night.

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The criticisms of Ausmus’ questionable bullpen tactics are fair, but he doesn’t own all the blame. He’s not getting much production out of the bullpen to speak of and hasn’t been given a safety net.

Al Avila tried to fix the bullpen issues in the offseason with the acquisitions of Wilson, Francisco Rodriguez, and Mark Lowe, but (aside from Wilson) these pitchers have been as much a part of the problem as anyone else.

Unfortunately there doesn’t appear much to be done to fix the problem internally. Bruce Rondon is striking batters out in AAA, but his command issues are ever present with a walk rate above 18%.

Matt Boyd and Buck Farmer (and Daniel Norris) could conceivably turn into serviceable (and high-strikeout) bullpen pieces, but both are unproven (or worse) at the major league level. And the Tigers probably need at least two of the three to be ready to serve as starting pitching depth for a rotation that has its own reliability concerns.

The Detroit Tigers could try to address relief pitching through trades but that remains a questionable option (at best) unless they can right the ship and steer back to contention.

Next: Tigers' Most Forgettable Hitters of Last 10 Years

As it stands, Tigers fans are going to have to prepare for another season of bullpen roller coaster rides.

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