The Closer Report » In-Season Analysis, Jonathan Papelbon » Debunking Jonathan Papelbon’s non-save thing

Debunking Jonathan Papelbon’s non-save thing

June 21st, 2012 | Add a Comment

When Dexter Fowler bounced one through the right side, Jonathan Papelbon could only look skyward. He had allowed another run in a non-save situation and probably a few watching in the Delaware Valley groaned, “See?”

Papelbon’s usage is a topic that has incited debate, but the richest reliever in baseball history was pitching Wednesday in a tie game at home and that was expected.

He has allowed seven runs in 10 1/3 innings when pitching in non-save situations. He has yet to allow a run in the 17 1/3 innings he’s pitched with a save on the line.

On numerous occasions in 2012, Papelbon has dismissed the notion of any difference between the two scenarios. His career numbers, a much larger sample size than three months in 2012, support that idea.

I	Split	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	SO/9	SO/BB
	in Sv Situ	2.24	272	277.0	201	76	69	19	74	330	0.993	10.7	4.46
	in non-Sv	2.43	148	163.0	125	51	44	13	36	195	0.988	10.8	5.42

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Charlie Manuel agreed Papelbon’s weird splits are happenstance.

“That’s just the way it is, I don’t think that has anything to do with it,” Manuel said. “I think he made pretty good pitches on Fowler. He threw a 2-2 pitch close. The ball Fowler hit was down, it might have been out of the strike zone, he just dropped the head of the bat on it and it happened to go in the right place.”

Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb’s Mailbag.