Aroldis Chapman, Reds Bullpen Aiming for History

Aroldis Chapman is known for two things - record-breaking heat and record-breaking strikeouts.  The Reds' 2012 bullpen, with a lot of help from Chapman, is on track to post some eye-popping numbers.

1) Chapman currently sits at 16.74 strikeouts per 9 innings.  That would be the highest rate in MLB history for any pitcher appearing in at least 25 games.

Only one other pitcher - Kenley Jansen for the Dodgers in 2011 - has ever topped 16 per 9.  Incidentally, the Braves' Craig Kimbrel is on track for a ridiculous number this year as well.  He has struck out 15.7 per 9 so far.

The Reds' Rob Dibble (in 1992) is one of only 13 previous pitchers ever to strike out more than 14 per 9 innings for a season.

2) The bullpen as a whole has struck out 10.18 batters per 9 innings.  That would be the highest rate in MLB history by any bullpen.

Only the 2010 Braves bullpen (led by Billy Wagner) ever topped 10 strikeouts per 9 innings.  They had a mark of 10.06.  The next-highest totals were posted by the 2011 White Sox and 2001 Cubs - both 9.8 per 9.

Chapman isn't the only one racking up Ks.  The other two guys in the top 3 for innings pitched in the Reds 'pen also have great strikeout rates - Sean Marshall 10.7 and Jose Arredondo 9.8.

3) The bullpen as a whole has an ERA of 2.64.  That is the best in MLB this season (by a fair margin) and it would be the best mark by any team's bullpen since the 2003 Dodgers (led by Eric Gagne's Cy Young-winning effort) posted a 2.46 ERA.

The 1942 St. Louis Cardinals had the lowest bullpen ERA ever (1.75) but the aforementioned '03 Dodgers bullpen had the best mark in comparison to the average bullpen ERA for that specific year (a remarkable 1.7 runs lower than the 2003 average).

Drew Stubbs

Count me among those who welcomed the move down in the order for Drew Stubbs. His .325 OBP isn't going to cut it for a leadoff guy.

That being said, I haven't by any means given up on Drew. He hasn't even played in two full seasons' worth of games at the major league level - 42 in 2009, 150 in 2010, 76 so far in 2011.

One distressing aspect is, of course, his strikeout rate - exactly one-third of all his at-bats this year - and the fact it has slowly worsened rather than improved.

A couple stats to ponder, from fangraphs, for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons:

Line drive % of balls in play - 21.1 - 15.5 - 19.6
Infield hit % of ground balls - 18.5 - 12.0 - 10.3

It would certainly be nice to see Stubbs trying to get on base via bunt more often (only 3 attempted this season), but this is held back by the fact that, well, he's terrible at bunting.

Back to the original issue of strikeouts, fangraphs provides a window into why he does so frequently. He recognizes strikes (and swings accordingly) right along with league average. And in fact does a better job than average laying off balls outside the zone (swinging 25% of the time, compared with 30% average).

The problem is he doesn't make contact when he swings. Only 56% of the time (68% average) for balls, and 82% (88% average) for strikes. You might be saying, "but I see him strike out looking all the time." That might be so, but more contact earlier in the count would go a long way toward preventing it.