Cincinnati Reds: Limiting the long ball is key for Raisel Iglesias in 2020

Cincinnati Reds closer Raisel Iglesias had a rough start to the spring, but a nice outing in Saturday’s game gives hope for a bounce-back season.

The Cincinnati Reds fell to the Kansas City Royals during Cactus League play on Saturday, but it was in no way due to the performance of Raisel Iglesias. The Reds closer, who struggled mightily last season, was off to a rather inauspicious start this spring. However, a bounce-back performance gives fans hope heading into 2020.

On Saturday, Iglesias tossed just one inning, but recorded two strikeouts on just seven pitches. Iggy sat down Ryan McBroom on three straight pitches, induced a line-out to left field off the bat of Salvador Perez and watched Kansas City slugger Jorge Solar swing and miss at three consecutive pitches.

I know it’s just spring training, but if that’s the version of Raisel Iglesias that shows up in 2020, the back end of the Reds bullpen will be looking pretty nice. Michael Lorenzen, another key cog likely to see time in the late innings of games, went two scoreless innings and racked up five strikeouts.

Last month, Blog Red Machine examined several Reds players who needed to rebound in 2020 after poor outings in 2019. While many fans will point to the likes of Joey Votto and Trevor Bauer, there may be no more important player on Cincinnati’s roster who’s in need of bounce-back season than Raisel Iglesias.

Though the Reds closer put up a career-high in saves last season, Iggy also entered the record books with the dubious distinction of being the all-time leader in losses among relievers in club history. The reliever was hung with 12 losses in 2020 after Cincinnati skipper David Bell tinkered with Iglesias’ role.

While the previous regime utilized Iglesias exclusively as the team’s closer when the Reds were ahead in the ninth inning, Bell brought in Iglesias in high-leverage situations regardless of the score. Whether it was the ninth inning or not, Bell saw Iglesias as the team’s best relief pitcher and wanted him on the mound when the game was in the balance.

According to Gary Schatz of the Dayton Daily News, Iglesias tinkered with his offseason regime a bit this winter. Iggy he began throwing in November rather than December, hoping to show up to camp ready to pitch. Here’s a quote from Iglesias through interpreter Jorge Merlos:

"“I worked on the same things that I have in other seasons. I did what the coaches asked me to do but with respect to the 12 losses last year, I thought why not do something different and come into camp feeling good.”"

Iglesias has pitched in three games so far this spring, and his first outing did not go so well. The right-hander surrendered four hits and gave up four runs, though all four were unearned. Iggy’s next outing saw him give up two hits and two runs in one inning of work, but a return to form in Saturday’s game showed what the Cuban native is capable of.

It’ll be interesting to see how David Bell deploys Iglesias this season. In the event that the 30-year-old struggles, the offseason addition of Pedro Strop gives Bell another option to use late in games. Michael Lorenzen, Robert Stephenson and Amir Garrett help make up a formidable trio for Cincinnati to use during the tail-end of close games.

Raisel Iglesias has to get back to his 2017-self. That year, Iggy put up a 2.49 ERA in 63 appearances with 28 saves. Though he had a better season in 2018 in terms of ERA and saves, Iggy gave up a lot of homers that season. Limiting the long ball will be essential to Iglesias’ success in 2020 after surrendering 24 big flies the past two seasons.

According to FanGraphs, in 2017, Iglesias’ HR/9 was 0.59. That number jumped to 1.50 in 2018 and increased to 1.61 in 2019. The prospects of Iglesias finding that 2017 groove could be essential to the Reds success in 2020.