Dodgers: Three Underrated Relievers Still Available

Nick Vincent (RHP)

Vincent is probably not a pitcher who ever has popped into your mind. He has been mostly a solid if unremarkable reliever over the course of his seven-year big league career. Another former-Padre, Vincent left San Diego with Kelley after the 2015 season, heading to the Mariners for the next three seasons. His best ERA and strikeout seasons were his seasons with the Padres, and bringing a California native back to Los Angeles seems to make sense for both sides.

Vincent finished 2018 with a 3.99 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 56.1 innings. While this was his worst ERA season, Vincent’s peripherals still look solid, and his highest WAR season, which came in 2017, should still be fresh on most team’s minds.

Vincent’s strikeout numbers and ERA are not very notable, but he is one of the most intriguing pitchers to the statistician. Vincent has an awesome fastball and he is great at suppressing home runs.

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Vincent has the fourth-lowest HR/FB rate in baseball since 2017 at a minute 5.9%. putting him ahead of pitchers like Aroldis Chapman and Joe Kelly, amongst plenty of other high-velocity flamethrowers. Vincent doesn’t fit this bill. His fastball averaged 90.1 mph last season, and his cutter just 88.0 mph according to Fangraphs. But it still was very valuable, as according to Fangraphs it had a 9.2 pitch value last season.

This isn’t my own discovery, Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs noticed this back in January 2017, comparing Vincent to pitchers like Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel. And now, because Vincent’s ERA and strikeouts were unremarkable, his price is far below that of pitchers with his success. The Dodgers should snap him up soon before another competitor snaps up one of the best fastballs in the game (or at least in the bullpen) today.

If the Dodgers felt comfortable spending on Joe Kelly on a multi-year commitment, they should have no problem dropping less than $4 million this season on a quality reliever of the ilk I have mentioned in this article. Hopefully, they have these pitchers on their radar already and hopefully one of them signs before pitchers and catchers report to Camelback Ranch next month.