The One Hitter – Aaron Bummer

This is the One-Hitter, don’t forget to exhale.

Today, I want to talk Aaron Bummer.  If you told me before the season started that the White Sox would have a lefty in the pen that is absolutely dominating, chances are I would not have picked Bummer, but here we be.  He’s been dominant, it’s been a short sample size of only 8 IP, but realistically, all reliever sample sizes are fucking small, so let’s enjoy.  He’s got 0.00 ERA, he’s got a 1.62 FIP (which is a fancy stat that tries to remove some of the luck from ERA), he’s got a 76.5% Groundball Rate (Groundball Rate is nice because it is very difficult to hit a groundball home run).  He’s walked basically nobody and struck all the rest out (over 1 K per IP)…..ALL STATS SITED HERE ARE FROM http://www.fangraphs.com they are awesome!!!

Wha Happend?

Well, I’m not scientist, but it looks like…….

He’s added velocity

His fastball averaged 93.5 MPH last year, this year it averages 95.5 MPH.  Now that might not seem like much when you are arguing a speeding ticket or some shit, but for a relief pitcher, that’s pretty sweet.  How’d he get that extra velocity, I dunno, and I dun’t care (don’t assume it’s needle in the butt drugs Chorizy, you fucking jerk!).

He stopped throwing his Slider

Bummer has thrown that pitch 23.7% of the time for his major league career, but only 3.5% of the time this year.

He started throwing the Cutter (Sorry Aloha Mr. Hand)

The Coop special is working for someone, praise Jesus!!  From ~11% in 2018 to almost 30% in 2019.

All this shit sounds good, but now we just have to hope that Ricky doesn’t go all Robin Venture on Nate Jones on this poor kid.