Chapman v. Rhodes

Sometimes you just run across something and it piques your interest. That was the case for me a bit earlier today when I checked out the team report for the Reds on Yahoo! Sports.

The piece was about since the Reds were not able to bring Arthur Rhodes back if his role will gravitate to Aroldis Chapman. One short paragraph grabbed me and I began to wonder if I was misunderstanding its intention.

But Chapman will not slide into Rhodes’ role. Rhodes was a left-handed specialist who often faced only one or two batters and never pitched more than an inning.

The part is “left-handed specialist”. Does that mean Rhodes was primarily brought into a game to face a lefty bat? To me, it does. Then my think tank got to grinding and I thought I’d check out the numbers Rhodes posted in 2010. I was a little startled at my discovery.

From a percentage standpoint, Rhodes was more effective against righties than lefties. The increase in walks was the obvious reason for the higher OBP against the righties. From a SO/BB point of view, Rhodes was far superior against lefties. He only walked one lefty. Overall, batters were a mere .196/.265/.309 against Rhodes.

But my brain didn’t start there. While the piece is correct about the workload in which Rhodes endured, he did pitch more than one inning on three occasions in 2010. Semantics, I know. What really surprised me was out of the 69 games in which Rhodes appeared, he pitcher less than one inning only 29 times. The majority of those came after the All-Star break when it was revealed that Rhodes was dealing with foot/heal issues.

And exactly how does Chapman stack up in those same areas?

Smaller sample, but quite well. Chapman is more effective against the lefties but he faced far more righties percentage-wise. Overall, Chapman manged averages of .196/.275/.217. Same batting average, slightly higher OBP and a slugging percentage of 90+ lower than Rhodes. Yes, Chapman could slide into that role, but I don’t think that will be the case…and according to the Yahoo! piece, neither does Reds pitching coach Bryan Price.

“For me, we have two guys where it doesn’t matter whether they’re facing left-handers or right-handers—Chapman and Nick Masset,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “With them, you can throw the matchups out.”

Having that kind effectiveness against all hitters will enable the Reds to have Chapman as a potential 7th inning guy. Masset would get the 8th and Cordero would close. I would hatch that as a plan…for now.

But the ultimate destination the Reds would like for Chapman is that of a starter.

Tags: Aroldis Chapman, Arthur Rhodes, bullpen, Cincinnati Reds, Nick Masset