There is no player I like to watch more than Tyler Clippard. I don’t know if it’s the glasses or what, but he is just fun to watch.
2012 Projection (ZiPS): 7-3, 2.85 ERA, 72 games, 88.1 IP, 107 K, 35 BB
2012 Actual: 2-6, 32 saves, 3.72 ERA, 74 games, 72.2 IP, 84 K, 29 BB
Sep 21, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals relief pitcher Tyler Clippard (36) throws in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE
Clippard was thrust into a closers role for most of the season to replace the injured and rehabbing Drew Storen. Due to that, he saw a little dip in his numbers compared to a year ago that saw him make the all-star team and had an ERA under 2. This season wasn’t all that bad for Clippard whose May, June and August were incredible but struggled in April, July and September/October. A lot of those inconsistencies were just due to more balls finding holes. His BABIP jumped considerably above average in those bad months and were back to normal in the good months. That isn’t the only thing to look for, but because BABIP tends to even out over the long run, there is a lot of reason to believe that he will bounce back. Consistency was the issue for Clippard who rebounded in time for the NLDS, allowing just one hit – a homerun – in three innings against the Cardinals.
Next season, with Storen healthy and back in the fold, Clippard will be settled down in that 8th inning set up role. The consistency should be able to help him bounce back from his up and down season and be an important part of this Nationals bullpen going forward with Storen and Ryan Mattheus.
Season Highlight: Clippard struck out the side four times this season and in one of those games, even managed to blow a save by giving up a hit and a walk around those strike outs. In one of the others, he gave up two hits – both home runs. Basically, the most interesting thing when I look at the game logs is the games where he was most un-hittable – with the most swinging strikes by opposing hitters – are the games that he was hit the hardest.
Previous Reviews:
Xavier Nady
Chien Ming Wang
Mark DeRosa
Henry Rodriguez
Carlos Maldonado
Brad Lidge
Ryan Mattheus
Ryan Perry
Rick Ankiel
Jesus Flores
Sandy Leon
Corey Brown
Christian Garcia
Jhonatan Solano
Mike Morse
Zach Duke
Tom Gorzelanny
Chad Tracy
Mike Gonzalez
John Lannan
Kurt Suzuki
Drew Storen
Wilson Ramos
Tyler Moore
Steve Lombardozzi
Jayson Werth
Craig Stammen