Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Contemplating Trevor Hildenberger

Trevor Hildenberger pitched the eighth inning on June 28. He faced three hitters, retired them all, turned a one-run lead over to closer Fernando Rodney and the Twins won. His ERA at the end of that game was 2.06.

Trevor Hildenberger pitched the eighth inning Tuesday night. Other than that he turned a one-run lead over to closer Fernando Rodney and the Twins won, it had little in common with the June 28 hold. Hildenberger allowed three hits (including a homer) and two runs.

And his ERA after the outing was 4.07. That's a pretty sharp increase in little more than a month of relief work.

The biggest issue for Hildenberger this year has been home runs. The long ball he surrendered Tuesday night (to Francisco Lindor) was his eighth in 55.1 innings. That's 1.3 homers per nine innings, and that's way too high for a late-inning guy.

But his walk rate is up a bit from 2017 and his strikeout rate down slightly as well. Those numbers aren't terrible this year -- not like the home run rate -- but those declines aren't helping.

But I literally don't see anybody on this roster who is likely to get an opportunity to supplant Hildenberger as the primary right-handed bridge to Rodney. Addison Reed, who had that job at season's start, has been even more homer-prone than Hildenberger and has been given plenty of rest between outings since his return from the disabled list. Hildenberger is going to get an opportunity to work his way out of this slump.

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