From the Handbook: Pitcher analysis

Let's take a dive into the Twins' newly signed closer, Fernando Rodney.

According to the Bill James Handbook, in 2017 Rodney

• threw a total of 978 pitches to 231 hitters
• struck out 65 men and walked 26
• 70 ground balls, 21 line drives and 43 fly balls
• threw strikes on 61 percent of his pitches and got swinging strikes on 21 percent
• opened 114 at-bats with a no-ball, one-strike count, 94 one-ball, no-strike
• had 37 full counts
• went to two strikes on 133 hitters, three balls on 60

All of which tells us ... probably not very much. We already knew that command is sometimes a problem for him. We're going to see a lot of deep counts. (I didn't know, however, how many grounders Rodney got last season.)

Brandon Kintzler last year threw 64 percent of his pitches for strikes. The difference between Rodney and Kintzler on that doesn't sound like much ... just three percentage points. It amounts to about one less strike every three outings. But that difference adds up. It's why Kintzler walks less than two men per nine innings and Rodney more than four.