Dodgers: Addressing How the New Pitchers Fit with the Dodgers

Tony Cingrani, LHP 

Tony Cingrani is your prototypical hard throwing left-hander that has immense upside. The former starter converted to reliever has struggled to live up to expectations out in Cincinnati and looks to benefit from a change of scenery.

Cingrani is only 28-years-old and brings a live arm that accumulates a lot of strikeouts. On the season, Cingrani has no record with a 5.40 ERA in 23 1/3 innings pitched. Cingrani owns a 9.26 K/9 ratio which translates to a 24.2 strikeout percent. Cingrani is averaging 94.6 mph on his fastballs, which he throws 88% of the time and works in a changeup and slider to put batters away.

However, like Watson, Cingrani is having a rough season getting left-handed hitters out, allowing a .293/.326/.829 slash rate. Naturally, the eye-popping numbers are the .829 slugging percentage against lefties, and that is because he’s allowed six home runs to the 43 left-handers he’s faced. He’s allowing a 70% fly ball rate to lefties, which tends to inflate the home run total.

Those numbers are obviously concerning but when you look at his six-year career sample size you can expect some positive regression. Despite the horrid numbers this season, Cingrani still post a solid left-handed slash rate of .218/.305/.407. The home run numbers are still concerning, but that has to do with his hard-throwing ability and the fact that half of his home runs allowed have come this season.

To get Cingrani, the Dodgers had to part ways with veteran Scott Van Slyke and catcher Heanndrik Clementina. Van Slyke has been the odd man out of the Dodgers major league club for about four seasons now, and he really deserves a team that could offer him more consistent playing time. Clementina is a catcher with decent upside that is having a great season at rookie ball. Considering the Dodgers have Grandal, Barnes and Will Smith on the rise, parting ways with Clementina was not a deal breaker.

Trade Grade B:, Cingrani brings a lot of upside with powerful stuff and at an affordable cost. Friedman has made his living reviving players like Cingrani. When you pair that with Rick Honeycutt the Dodgers could potentially have a gem in Cingrani if he adjusts his mechanics to hide the ball better.