When the Pittsburgh Pirates made the decision to trade former closer Joel Hanrahan to the Boston Red Sox and hand the job to set-up man Jason Grilli, it was often questioned how the veteran would handle to transition from the eighth inning to the pressures of pitching in the ninth inning.
With close to two months of the 2013 season now in the books, Grilli hasn’t just made the transition to closer, he’s made it look easy.
Grilli not only currently leads all of baseball with 21 saves at the moment, but he is doing so with ease as he has allowed only three earned runs in 25 appearances on the season. His 1.14 ERA and 0.67 WHIP are career bests and his 14.1 K/9 ranks him among the best in baseball.
But in terms of closing out games, Grilli could find himself in some rare company if he keeps doing what he’s doing.
The 36-year old is on pace to record 65 saves on the season which would not only shatter the National League record held by John Smoltz (55 in 2002) and Eric Gagne (55 in 2003), but would also best the MLB single season record set by Francisco Rodriguez (62) in 2008.
Can Grilli keep up the pace?
It’s hard to imagine so, but he has a lot working for him.
Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle doesn’t want to overuse Grilli as he won’t use him three days in a row, but you could envision a situation where Hurdle keeps leaning on his hammer at the back of the bullpen.
The Pirates want to avoid another late-season collapse so I would expect Hurdle to try and nail down as many wins before the All-Star break as possible to leave the team in good enough shape heading down the stretch. That could mean a lot more save chances for Grilli.
Then there is the fact that Grilli doesn’t usually overwork himself when he does pitch.
He’s a guy who rarely needs a lot of pitches to close out games, which is big. He attacks the strike zone and doesn’t get himself into trouble with walks, issuing only five free passes all season long.
That alone means that Hurdle should have no problem giving Grilli the ball four times in a week if he is needed.
With the Pirates about to shatter a record for bullpen innings pitched, it is hard to envision a scenario in which Grilli won’t be getting a ton of save opportunities the rest of the season if he remains healthy.
If he does, the Pirates breaking their losing streak may not be the only thing worth keeping an eye on as Grilli could be in a position to take a run at history.
Of course there’s a long way to go and a lot of things can still happen, but one thing is certain and that’s Grilli has left his mark on this Pirates organization.
That’s not bad for a guy who was pitching for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs just three seasons ago.
Photo Credit: CBS Sports
