Hunter Strickland Looks Like Future Closer Again, but When is “Future”?
When Hunter Strickland made his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants last year when rosters expanded in September, he became an immediate revelation. His fastball blazed by hitters in the high 90’s, touching triple digits on more than one occasion. In nine games, he gave up just five hits in seven innings, striking out nine hitters in the process. Strickland earned both his first career win and save before surrendering his first career walk or run.
All that good fortune he built up with the fanbase in the regular season quickly dissipated in the postseason. He became a pitching machine to opposing hitters, giving up six home runs among nine hits and seven runs in just 8.1 innings. Things came to a head in the World Series when tempers boiled, and Strickland and Kansas City Royals’ catcher Salvador Perez got in a shouting match that became very intense, very quickly.
But Strickland didn’t disappear from the face of the Earth. He didn’t even disappear from the Giants’ roster. He was with the big league team in Spring Training, but was optioned before the start of the year, as he was the only reliever battling for the final bullpen spot with options remaining.
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With Triple-A Sacramento, Strickland picked up right where he left off in the 2014 regular season. In 15 games and 21.2 innings, his ERA was 1.66, his WHIP was .785, and strikeout-to-walk ratio was 25:3. Maybe most importantly, he didn’t allow a single home run, which was his achilles heel in the postseason.
When the roster opened up a 26th spot for the doubleheader with the Colorado Rockies, Strickland was the guy who got the call. The reaction was to be expected. The last time Strickland was seen in the big leagues, he gave up a bunch of home runs, and now he was going to pitch in Coors Field? That was a recipe for disaster. But disaster never happened. In his 2015 debut on that Saturday, he pitched two innings, and gave up just a single and struck out three.
Strickland’s strong pitching, coupled with a brutal stretch in the schedule for the Giants, forced San Francisco to keep Strickland in the big leagues as an eighth reliever.
Just like in the 2014 regular season, Strickland looks like a totally dominant force again. In 7.1 innings, that single he allowed in Colorado is the only baserunner against him. Combined between Triple-A and the major leagues this year, Strickland owns a 1.24 ERA and .621 WHIP, and his K:BB ratio is 11:1.
Strickland’s development as a pitcher has been evident in his short call-up stint so far. He’s using his curveball much more, relying more on the break and dip in velocity of the breaking ball instead of just the pure velocity of the four-seam fastball. Make no mistake, Strickland still loves blowing the heat right by hitters, but it’s much more controlled this year.
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Strickland’s fastball has been around 97 to 98 miles an hour this year, rather than the 99 to 100 we saw last season, but he’s been spotting it perfectly. The fastball, low and way, has been his put-away pitch, and it’s virtually impossible to make solid contact with that pitch.
Strickland looks like the same guy who has hailed as the future closer last year. But the question is, when exactly is the “future” for the “future closer”?
One thing is becoming increasingly clear regarding Strickland. Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy really trusts Strickland. His last two appearances have come in the eighth inning, and both times, the Giants were holding slim leads. On Friday, Strickland entered the game with a 2-1 lead, and threw a perfect inning. On Sunday, he came into a 5-3 game and retired all three batters he faced, stranding an inherited runner.
On Sunday, the Giants’ regular eighth inning guy, Sergio Romo, was unavailable because of an illness. For Bochy to call on Strickland to take his spot shows a lot of trust. It also shows that Strickland has jumped up the bullpen depth chart in a very short amount of time.
But to jump over the two guys at the top of the bullpen depth chart would be a tall task. Romo has always excelled in the late innings, and to supplant Romo as the go-to setup man, Strickland would need to do something that wows everyone, including Bochy.
Jumping over closer Santiago Casilla will be even harder. Before the rough outing on Sunday, Casilla had been lights out this year. Even after allowing three earned runs in .2 innings Sunday, he still owns a 2.82 ERA and is 15-for-18 in save opportunities this year. Last year, he was even better. One rough outing won’t take him out of the closer’s role, no matter how good Strickland is.
But just like Casilla was there when Romo struggled in the closer’s role in 2014, Strickland is waiting in the wings if there comes a time that he is needed.
Strickland is the closer of the future, but seeing as Romo and Casilla are both basically locked up through next season, the future is a bit of a way off. Strickland is being groomed for the job now, and he’s showing that he is worthy of the title.