*Photo from The Athletic*
The Chicago White Sox bullpen includes high leverage stars Liam Hendriks and Craig Kimbrel. Yet, they wanted more. The White Sox and RHP Kendall Graveman have agreed to a 3 year, $24 million deal, according to MLB Network's Jon Heyman. The White Sox have confirmed the deal.
With the signing of Graveman, it's the 3rd time in the last calendar year that the White Sox have added a potent reliever to the back end of the bullpen. Hendriks was signed to a 4 year deal in January, and they made one of the biggest splashes at the trade deadline by acquiring Kimbrel from the Cubs via trade. The 2021 season was the first full season for Graveman since 2018, as he missed all of 2019 and a part of 2020 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
In his first full season back, Graveman had a career resurgence. Spending 2021 with both the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros, Graveman pitched to a 5-1 record with a 1.77 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP, striking out 61 hitters while walking just 20 across 56 innings pitched, saving 10 games in 53 relief appearances. All 10 of his saves came with the Mariners.
After a confusing trade at the deadline that saw Graveman and Rafael Montero head to the Astros in exchange for Abraham Toro and Joe Smith, Graveman slid into a setup role behind closer Ryan Pressly. In the Astros playoff run, which ended in a 6 game defeat in the World Series, Graveman allowed just two runs on 7 hits while striking out 11 hitters in 11 innings pitched, mostly in a two inning role, pitching in 8 of the 9 Astros wins in the playoffs.
Across 7 big league seasons spent with 4 different teams, Graveman has a 29-33 record with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP, striking out 362 hitters while throwing 520 2/3 innings, with 10 career saves in 147 games, 80 of which came while Graveman was still a starter early in his career, with the Oakland Athletics.
The key part of Graveman's bounce back campaign in 2021 was his sinker, that he threw 63 percent of the time to opposing hitters. It averaged a little over 96 MPH, generating a ground ball rate of 61.5 percent, with opponents hitting just .177 off the pitch, with a .221 slugging percentage and just one home run in 113 at bats. The slider was the put away pitch for Graveman, with a 43.8 whiff percentage on swings.
Graveman's signing makes an already dangerous back end of the bullpen for the White Sox even more lethal. Because he joins forces with Hendriks and Kimbrel, any White Sox starter may only have to pitch 6 innings on any given night, with the big 3 behind them in the bullpen to lock down games after the starter leaves.
Comments
Post a Comment