Tag Archives: Joel Hanrahan

December 26, 2012

Restocking

The Pirates and Red Sox completed the trade for Joel Hanrahan, who takes over as the Boston closer. Christina Kahrl evaluates the trade, with Mark Melancon being the key for the Pirates:

Reliever Mark Melancon: He has the talent to potentially make the exchange a push. His FIP in a bad season in Boston (4.54) was almost the same as Hanrahan’s in Pittsburgh (4.49), and he’s the pitcher heading out the AL East into the easier NL Central, as well as the guy whose unusual spike in homers per fly ball should come back down. With a fastball that sits around 93 mph, he won’t wow the scoreboard speed gun as much as Hanrahan does, but setting up or closing for the Pirates, he wouldn’t need to. And he’s under Pirates’ club control for four more years.

Kahrl seems a bit down on Jerry Sands, but the Pirates are getting a power hitter just entering his prime. Her point about Albuquerque helping his power is valid, but he showed power at other levels as well. In addition, the Pirates don’t have to worry about losing him during his prime years.

The Red Sox continue to add veteran pieces in an effort to put together an effective team. I get the feeling that Boston is trying to put a team on the field that is a bit over .500, and with some luck and a weak AL East, they might make the playoffs.

September 15, 2012

You Know it Don’t Come Easy

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The Pirates sent Joel Hanrahan to the mound in the ninth with a 7-4 lead, and Joel came about as close to blowing the save as possible before the Pirates won 7-6. Joel gave up two hits and walked three, including walking in the last run the Cubs scored. He had the bases loaded with two outs, and nearly threw the ball over his catcher’s head as he pitched to Dave Sappelt. He then made two great pitches, one on the high, outside corner, to strike out Sappelt and give the Pirates a much needed win. That ends the team’s seven-game losing streak.

Andrew McCutchen hit his 28th home run as he continues to post MVP numbers.

June 7, 2012

Pirates Beat the Best

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Thursday turned into the night that ate closers in Cincinnati. Joel Hanrahan blew a save for the Pirates in the bottom of the ninth as Ryan Ludwick‘s second home run of the game tied the score at four. In the tenth, however, Aroldis Chapman allowed doubles to the first two batters for his first earned run allowed on the season and Pittsburgh wins 5-4. The Pirates take two out of three in the series against the NL Central leaders and sit just two games out of first place in the division. If they can beat Chapman, they should be able to beat anyone. 🙂

Alex Presley went 2 for 5 and is 5 for 14 since his recall with four runs scored in three games.

November 8, 2010

Players A to Z, Joel Hanrahan

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Joel Hanrahan pitches in relief for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hanrahan really dialed up the strikeouts in 2010, recording 100 K in 69 2/3 innings. That ranked third in the majors among pitchers with at least 60 innings, trailing only Carlos Marmol and Billy Wagner. In his first three years in the majors, Joel struck out batters at a rate of 9.4 per nine innings, so his 2010 season represented a jump of about three K per nine. Not surprisingly, opponents hit just .221 against Hanrahan, the lowest BA allowed of his career.

Joel achieved this higher K rate by abandoning the rising pitch with two strikes. Here’s what the movement on his two-strike pitches looked like in 2008 and 2009:

Joel Hanrahan, movement on two strike pitches, 2008-2009

The next chart shows the movement for 2010:

Joel Hanrahan, movement on two strike pitches, 2010

The majority of his pitches sunk, and he struck out righties down and away and lefties down and in.

Hanrahan remains a bit wild, although his walks improved as well. The Pirates are looking to use either Joel or Evan Meek as their closer in 2011.

Thanks to Baseball Analytics for the heat graphs.

February 18, 2010

Plank Pains

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The Pirates announced two previously unreported injuries, and updated the conditions of the rest of their walking wounded.

While players were undergoing physical examinations this morning around the corner from the clubhouse, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington announced that reliever Joel Hanrahan is suffering from a right (throwing) elbow injury that could remove him from his expected key bullpen role from two weeks to a month.

He also said utility infielder Ramon Vazquez had previously undisclosed arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in November.

Hanrahan will make the dreaded visit to Dr. Andrews.