Marmol sets franchise record for Ks in a season

[Ski]

As a reliever, of course.

 

Nasty.

 

Hard throwers like Chapman are fun, but Marmol is still my favorite pitcher to watch.

[imb]

He has 3 more Ks than John Garland, which of course sounds boring until you realize he did it in 120 FEWER INNINGS.

 

8 less Ks than AJ Burnett, in 105 fewer innings.

 

I'll always be curious what kind of season he would have put up if he had been left as a starter (and stayed healthy)

[Ski]

He has 3 more Ks than John Garland, which of course sounds boring until you realize he did it in 120 FEWER INNINGS.

 

8 less Ks than AJ Burnett, in 105 fewer innings.

 

I'll always be curious what kind of season he would have put up if he had been left as a starter (and stayed healthy)

I doubt he'd strike out that many as a starter.

[sneakypower]

I'll always be curious what kind of season he would have put up if he had been left as a starter (and stayed healthy)

I doubt he'd strike out that many as a starter.

wow, bold statement

[imb]

beep beep beep back it up

[SouthSideRyan]

Beep beep beep?

[Sammy Sofa]

That's his heart.

[Bull]

He has 3 more Ks than John Garland, which of course sounds boring until you realize he did it in 120 FEWER INNINGS.

 

8 less Ks than AJ Burnett, in 105 fewer innings.

 

I'll always be curious what kind of season he would have put up if he had been left as a starter (and stayed healthy)

I doubt he'd strike out that many as a starter.

 

Sure he would. The question is would he healthy to do it again the next year.

[TheDude]

Marmol blows my mind. He might be a manager's worst nightmare with the walks, but in 28 years of watching games he's the first pitcher I've ever seen that makes hitters routinely look uncomfortable to the point that they just have no clue. Analysts love to throw around "unhittable" when it doesn't apply, but Marmol is actually unhittable. Other guys have thrown pitches that make a guy look stupid (Wood's curve was awesome for that), but Marmol often gets away with a straight fastball down the middle because a hitter is so off-balance.

 

In a lost season I've truly enjoyed watching Marshall to Marmol as a dominant 8/9.

[The Other One]

Marmol blows my mind. He might be a manager's worst nightmare with the walks, but in 28 years of watching games he's the first pitcher I've ever seen that makes hitters routinely look uncomfortable to the point that they just have no clue. Analysts love to throw around "unhittable" when it doesn't apply, but Marmol is actually unhittable. Other guys have thrown pitches that make a guy look stupid (Wood's curve was awesome for that), but Marmol often gets away with a straight fastball down the middle because a hitter is so off-balance.

 

In a lost season I've truly enjoyed watching Marshall to Marmol as a dominant 8/9.

 

 

You just missed this guy then:

 

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/S/Bruce-Sutter.shtml

 

The hitters had the same ugly, off balanced swing when he first showed up. The biggest difference in my eyes is that hitters routinely swung at pitches that were out of the zone. The cure from a hitter's standpoint was to learn to lay off and take the walk forcing him to come back into the zone. Sutter was hittable when he was in the zone if you guessed right.

 

Marmol was operating the same way earlier. The sliders were well out of the zone and hitters couldn't hold up. But he becomes susceptible to the walk when hitters decide not to swing and see what happens.

 

But, the biggest difference to me is that Marmol remains unhittable even when he is in the zone. When Gonzalez swung through a slider that ended up right in the heart of the plate, you knew the game was over. I get nervous when announcers start telling you a guys has been perfect or never misses, but Len started going through the stats right after that pitch and I found myself just nodding my head. He immediately fell behind the next batter but then started going right down the middle and struck Ludwick out. The fastball at the end was straight as an arrow and Ludwick still looked off balance on the swing.

[Guest]

Not to take anything away from Sutter, but here's a comparison to put Marmol in perspective. Sutter's best K/9 seasons were his first 4, where he had the following K/9:

 

7.9

10.8

9.7

9.8

 

 

Now here's Marmol in his 4 years as a reliever, starting with 2007:

 

12.5

11.7

11.3

16.0

[The Other One]

Not to take anything away from Sutter, but here's a comparison to put Marmol in perspective. Sutter's best K/9 seasons were his first 4, where he had the following K/9:

 

7.9

10.8

9.7

9.8

 

 

Now here's Marmol in his 4 years as a reliever, starting with 2007:

 

12.5

11.7

11.3

16.0

 

I'm with you. I noticed that as well and it can't be explained away by era since the 70's probably had a similar strikeout rate as today (guessing?). I just thought it was comparable in the way both made players look terrible when they missed.

 

I think it also puts into perspective what Marmol is doing. The lack of national attention is a little maddening. Sutter had the baseball world talking when he showed up. Not so for Marmol. It could be WGN's reach back in the day.

[The Other One]

And thinking about it Sutter had the marketing advantage of a new pitch- a split fingered fastball. It got everyone interested to see what the heck he was doing.

 

Maybe Marmol needs to name his slider something new and cool?

[chuckywang]

His 16.0 K/9 destroys the previous record.

[TruffleShuffle]

2 more and he has 140 on the season. as a reliever. that's [expletive] insane.

 

i love his numbers over the last three years: 239 IP, 123 H, 158 BB, 345 K. 4.63 H/9 IP, 5.95 BB/9 IP and 13 K/9 IP. i don't know how baseball-reference has any similarity scores for him... who else pitches like this??? certainly not the top two similarity scores (scott strickland, matt guerrier) - both of them are way more hittable and less wild.

[Ski]

Too bad he couldn't maintain that 18 K/9 he had earlier this year.

[IlliniGuy99]

His 16.0 K/9 destroys the previous record.

What was the previous record?

[Guest]

Randy Johnson holds the single season record at 13.4. Marmol needs about twice as many innings to be eligible.

 

EDIT: Here's some famous relievers and their career high K/9.

 

Eckersley 10.7

Lee Smith 12.2

Gagne: 15.0

Wagner 14.9

Rivera 10.9

Percival 12.5

Hoffman 12.3

[imb]

Has he really only allowed 1 HR all season? I guess that makes some sense since you either sit there and hope he walks you or flail wildly.

[javy knows my name]

Beep beep beep?

Most large trucks have a similar alarm that sounds when they back up. IMB! was just exaggerating for dramatic effect :D

 

http://wikipedia.org

[Guest]

Has he really only allowed 1 HR all season? I guess that makes some sense since you either sit there and hope he walks you or flail wildly.

 

It's kind of weird that in what was probably his best year (2008) he gave up 10 home runs (out of 40 hits) in 87 1/3 innings while in 07, 09 and 10 combined, he gave up 6 home runs (out of 124 hits) in 221 innings.

 

Other numbers for Marmol from 2008: .171 BABIP, 11% LD% and an 11.8% HR/FB. He was giving up about the same number of extra base hits but a few happened to go out of the park instead of staying in as doubles.

[Clem Fandango]

Beep beep beep?

Most large trucks have a similar alarm that sounds when they back up. IMB! was just exaggerating for dramatic effect :D

 

http://wikipedia.org

 

It's also a Seinfeld reference

[SouthSideRyan]

COME ON

[javy knows my name]

oh balls. the opportunity to make fun was too appealing

[chuckywang]

Has he really only allowed 1 HR all season? I guess that makes some sense since you either sit there and hope he walks you or flail wildly.

 

Yes, to Jeff freaking Clement.