Ty Blach’s Role Keeps Changing, but He Keeps Helping the Giants
His role hasn’t always been set this season, but Ty Blach continues to impress and help the San Francisco Giants in 2017.
Ty Blach‘s role with the San Francisco Giants has been constantly evolving this season. He entered Spring Training in 2017 with an opportunity to beat out Matt Cain for the fifth starter’s spot in the rotation, and he pitched well enough to put him in serious consideration. An injury changed that.
When reliever Will Smith was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery in March, what the team needed from Blach shifted. A spot in the bullpen for a left-hander opened up, and with Josh Osich struggling to the point that Triple-A became the only reasonable destination to start the year, Blach was shifted to the bullpen. Another injury, this one during the season, changed Blach’s role again.
Madison Bumgarner went on the disabled list on April 21st, and an immediate sense of dread overcame the fanbase, even worse than the dreadful feeling because of the team’s slow start. Blach was needed in the rotation again. And while he’s no Bumgarner, he’s done a great job during his month-plus among the starting five and eased that uneasy feeling.
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The rookie southpaw was back on the mound on Saturday to face the Atlanta Braves, and he was spectacular again. Over 7.2 innings, his longest start of the year, he held Atlanta to only two runs on six hits while striking out a season-high five. For the second straight outing, Blach took a shutout into the eighth inning, and while the shutout was erased for the second straight start as well, it was exactly what the Giants needed.
Since moving into the rotation, Blach has made seven starts. Five of those have been quality starts, and one of the exceptions was his first start after moving into the rotation when he went five innings and gave up only two runs. Besides one bad start in Cincinnati during the Giants’ worst series of the season, he has been lights out. In seven starts, Blach owns a strong 3.71 ERA and 1.191 WHIP. Without the blowup against the Reds, Blach has a sparkling 2.21 ERA and 0.984 WHIP.
From a pitching standpoint, Blach couldn’t be any different from Bumgarner. The team ace is a strikeout pitcher, coming off a season in which he struck out a career-high 251 batters and 10 per nine innings. Blach is the complete opposite. If he were a qualified pitcher (he’s 1.2 innings shy of being qualified), his 3.5 strikeouts per nine innings would rank as the lowest among pitchers in baseball.
Instead, Blach pitches to contact as well as anyone in baseball. His 86.1 average exit velocity against is one of the best numbers on the Giants’ staff, and he is great at getting himself out of trouble. Blach has induced six groundball double plays to lead the team.
Not only has Blach proven himself as a stellar pitching option, he has shown himself to be a fantastic all-around player. His defense has always been a strong point, earning him a minor league Gold Glove in 2015. It helped him on Monday against the Cubs, when he covered first base on a bloop base hit by Albert Almora, and eventually threw him out at second base when Almora strayed too far from first.
Blach is also a very good hitter. He’s collected three hits off Clayton Kershaw, including a double earlier this season, and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. On Saturday, he picked up two more hits, one of which drove in a run.
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Even with a role that has been changing, Blach continues to thrive for the Giants. He has a bright future for the team, and with at least one spot opening up in the rotation permanently next season, he might find himself as a stalwart among Giants’ starters.