Dodger Jonathan Broxton underrated among relief pitchers
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When discussing the best relief pitchers in baseball, you will rarely hear Jonathan Broxton’s name.
Mariano Rivera, Francisco Rodriguez, Joe Nathan, Trevor Hoffman or Brad Lidge may very well be some of the names you hear, but there are more than enough reasons why Broxton needs to be regarded more highly.
You might remember Broxton from the NLCS last season. He surrendered a go-ahead, game-winning two-run home run to Matt Stairs in the top of the eighth of Game 5. The home run lifted the Phillies to a 7-5 win and they went on to defeat the Dodgers, 4-1, in the NLCS.
This season, Broxton has rebounded and been back to business as usual. Just take a look at Broxton’s 2009 projections:
76 IP, 14-0, 1.33 ERA, 36 Sv., 14.59 K/9 IP.
Those are not stats from PlayStation Three baseball. Those are his projected numbers for a 162-game season, according to baseball reference.
Thus far in ‘09, Broxton has compiled 13 saves in 15 opportunities, which ties him for third in the NL, and is posting a 1.24 ERA.
This is Broxton’s first full season as the Dodgers closer. He took over the role for the injured Takashi Saito last July 18.
Broxton stands at an imposing 6-foot-4-inches, 295 pounds and has the power to back up that physique. He displays a fastball that regularly touches 99 mph. The soon-to-be 25-year-old also displays a hard slider that he likes to go to with two strikes.
What has been most remarkable is that Broxton, with six wins, also stands tied for second in the NL in that category. That already surpasses his career high, four, posted in ’06 and ’07.
Two of his wins have followed one of his own blown saves.
However, Broxton has earned four gritty wins in one-run games at home. Joe Torre likes to bring Broxton in during games that are either tied or the Dodgers trail by one run.
Torre does this because he trusts in Broxton to deliver a scoreless inning. This enables the offense to have a better chance to win the game in the bottom of the eighth or ninth.
The strategy seems to be working; the Dodgers are 11-1 at Dodger Stadium during one-run games.
-- PJ Ross