Friday, May 3, 2013

Is Bruce Rondon the Future Closer for the Tigers?

      On of the biggest off season issues facing the Tigers after their loss in the World Series was the status of the closers role.  Jose Valverde had been the closer for the past two seasons but lost his job after two blown saves in the playoffs.  Valverde was informed after the season was over that the option for his last year on his contract would not be picked up, making him a free agent.  The question immediately became who would become the closer.  Phil Coke was the first name to come up but soon thereafter the rumor was that the Tigers would make, their 2012 Minor League Pitcher of the Year Bruce Rondon, the closer.  Going into spring training the question was still up in the air and Jim Leyland said that it would come down to who performed the best in Lakeland.  Bruce Rondon did not have a good spring with too many hard hit balls, too many walks and a few wild pitches and was sent to Toledo to start the year.
      After a rough start to the season for Coke and the rest of the bullpen, the Tigers announced the signing of Jose Valverde to a minor league contract, causing a stir in both the media and the fan base.  The talk was if he was so bad that they didn't renew his contract, why is Detroit signing him now?  The answer was in the way the contract was structured, the Tigers had an opt out clause that stated if they weren't happy with his pitching by May 30th then he could be released with no money owed.  Valverde and his agent, Scott Boras, said that Valverde had dropped weight, regained velocity on his fastball and regained control of his cutter, a pitch he had used in 2011 but stopped using in 2012, contributing to his lack of consistency.  So far this season he has performed up to his 2011 standards where he was 49-49 in save opportunities.  He is 2-2 in save opportunities with an ERA of 0.00, no hits, no walks and two strikeouts in three innings.
      After injuries to Phil Coke and Octavio Dotel, Rondon was recalled and had a few appearances with the Tigers.  In three games over 2-1/3 innings Rondon had no saves and an ERA of 11.57 while giving up three runs on five hits, two walks and one strikeout.  After being knocked around in his last appearance against the Twins he was sent back down to Toledo.  Does this mean he isn't a Major League caliber pitcher?  I don't think it does, You have to remember that Rondon is only 23 years old and didn't have any Major League experience until the 2-1/3 innings he had this year.  In fact he only had eight innings of AAA time last season after spending most of the season at Single A Lakeland and AA Erie.  So it is clear he is inexperienced to say the least.  With some more experience I think he can be very successful but there are a few things he needs to do.  He needs to learn to pitch rather than just throw hard, at the Major League level just throwing hard won't do the job for very long because hitters are too good at timing pitches.  If you can't keep them off balance by changing speeds and eye levels you will get rocked.  Rondon needs to learn to mix his pitches better and maybe even learn to throw a new one.  Right now he has a 100 MPH + 4 seam fastball, a two seam fastball and a cutter but if he adds a good changeup or a curveball it will allow him to make that fastball look even faster and give hitters a harder time.  I feel that with enough seasoning in the minors and some time with the great pitching coaches in the Tigers organization he can be the closer of the future for Detroit, if I'm wrong and he's a bust then we still have Papa Grande.        





    

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