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Leveraging bullpen depth effectively has become a hybrid of science and art, with the bias now heavily toward science. Teams with multiple, high-leverage relievers have a distinct match-up advantage as the innings provided by starting pitchers have decreased through the years.
Furthermore, one-batter specialists - whose usage had increased through the decades - have seen their role almost eliminated due to the three-batter rule. However, the use of multi-inning relievers has regained popularity, especially as teams leverage “openers” on a more regular basis in both the regular and postseason.
For the Braves, proof of the impact of an effective, deep bullpen can be seen in the results of the 2021. The depth of the bullpen played a huge roll in the team’s World Series Championship as guys like Tyler Matzek, Luke Jackson, A.J. Minter and Jesse Chavez stepped into critical roles throughout the season.
In a classic generational comparison, what members of past Braves bullpens have had the best seasons? And which season produced the overall strongest bullpen?
To focus on bullpen depth, this article will exclude each season’s primary closer. It will also excluded otherwise qualifying pitchers with more than ten starts (apologies to Kris Medlen’s 2012 season).
The parameters for this included the following:
- Seasonal analysis starting with 1990;
- Regular season statistics only;
- Minimum of 49 appearances per season;
- Not the primary closer for the season;
- Did not lead the team in Saves;
- Fewer than ten appearances as a starter for the season;
- A minimum ERA+ of 125;
- A minimum bWAR of 0.4;
- Because of the small sample size, the 2020 season was omitted; and
- The top 50 qualifiers were used for these results.
While there are a myriad of statistics available, this analysis focused on ERA+, bWAR, Games, Inning Pitched, WHIP, SO9 and SO/W.
A few observations from pulling the data from Baseball-reference, season-by-season. It is mindboggling to think that the 1993 Braves team used only 13 pitchers for the entire season - and that included three late-season appearances by Pedro Borbon, Jr. The 1997 Braves used only 17 pitchers, including the single appearance of John LeRoy’s MLB career.
In contrast, the 2015 Braves used 37 pitchers while the 2018 and 2016 Braves both used 35 pitchers. Last season’s Braves team used 30 pitchers.
While there were a lot of forgettable seasons - and many forgotten names - there were also amazing seasons by both individual relievers and collective bullpens of the past three decades.
Best Single Seasons
Here is a look at the best single seasons by Braves non-closing relievers since 1990.
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Top 5 Seasons, by bWAR
Eric O’Flaherty, 2011, 3.3
Jonny Venters, 2011, 3.0
Chris Hammond, 2002, 2.7
Mike Stanton, 1991, 2.6
Greg McMichael, 1993, 2.5
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Top 5 Seasons, by ERA+
Chris Hammond, 2002, 441
Eric O’Flaherty, 2011, 393
Steve Bedrosian, 1993, 248
Luis Avilan, 2013, 247
Peter Moylan, 2007, 242
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Top 5 Seasons, by WHIP
Rafael Soriano, 2007, 0.861
Luis Avilan, 2013, 0.954
Steve Bedrosian, 1993, 0.966
Darren Holmes, 2002, 0.970
David Carpenter, 2013, 0.990
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Top 5 Seasons, by SO9
Takashi Saito, 2010, 11.5
Mike Remlinger, 2001, 11.2
Tyler Matzek, 2021, 11.0
Mike Gonzalez, 2009, 10.9
Jonny Venters, 2012, 10.6
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Top 5 Seasons, by SO/W
Rafael Soriano, 2007, 4.67
Ian Krol, 2016, 4.31
Takashi Saito, 4.06
Mike Remlinger, 2001, 4.04
Darren Holmes, 2002, 3.92
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Top 5 Seasons, by FIP
Greg McMichael, 1993, 2.42
Takashi Saito, 2010, 2.43
Eric O’Flaherty, 2011, 2.54
Jonny Venters, 2010, 2.69
A.J. Minter, 2018, 2.72
Darren Holmes, 2002, 2.72
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Top 5 Seasons, by Games
Peter Moylan, 2009, 87
Jonny Venters, 2011, 85
Peter Moylan, 2010, 85
Mike Gonzalez, 2009, 80
Peter Moylan, 2007, 80
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Top 5 Seasons, by Innings Pitched
Greg McMichael, 1993, 91.2
Peter Moylan, 2007, 90
Jonny Venters, 2011, 88
Greg McMichael, 1996, 86.2
Mike Remlinger, 1999, 83.2
Best Single Seasons by Decade
Let’s take a look at the best of the qualifying relieves for each of the three complete decades since 1990.
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Top 5 bWAR, 1990s
Mike Stanton, 1991, 2.6
Greg McMichael, 1993, 2.5
Mike Remlinger, 1999, 2.3
Greg McMichael, 1995, 1.7
Steve Bedrosian, 1993, 1.5
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Top 5 ERA+, 1990s
Steve Bedrosian, 1993, 248
Greg McMichael, 1993, 195
Mike Remlinger, 1999, 190
Alan Embree, 1997, 165
Kevin McGlinchy, 1999, 160
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Top 5 bWAR, 2000s
Chris Hammond, 2002, 2.7
Mike Remlinger, 2002, 2.1
Peter Moylan, 2007, 1.9
Mike Remlinger, 2001, 1.7
Darren Holmes, 2002, 1.5
Mike Gonzalez, 2009, 1.5
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Top 5 ERA+, 2000s
Chris Hammond, 2002, 441
Peter Moylan, 2007, 242
Darren Holms, 2002, 231
Mike Remlinger, 2002, 210
Mike Gonzalez, 209, 171
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Top 5 bWAR, 2010s
Eric O’Flaherty, 2011, 3.3
Jonny Venters, 2011, 3.0
Luis Avilan, 2013, 2.2
David Carpenter, 2013, 1.8
Jim Johnson, 2015, 1.6
Arodys Vizcaino, 2017, 1.6
Sam Freeman, 2017, 1.6
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Top 5 ERA+, 2010s
Eric O’Flaherty, 2011, 393
Luis Avilan, 2013, 247
Eric O’Flaherty, 2012, 233
David Carpenter, 2013, 211
Jonny Venters, 2011, 208
Best Cumulative Qualifying Seasons
Here is a look at the best cumulative numbers for relievers in qualifying seasons.
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Highest bWAR, Qualifying Seasons
Mike Remlinger, 1999-2002, 7.5
Eric O’Flaherty, 2009-2012, 6.4
Greg McMichael, 1993, 1995-1996, 5.4
Jonny Venters, 2010-2012, 4.7
Peter Moylan, 2007, 2009-2010, 4.0
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Most Games, Qualifying Seasons
Mike Remlinger, 1999-2002, 291
Eric O’Flaherty, 2009-2012, 276
Peter Moylan, 2007, 2009-2010, 252
Jonny Venters, 2010-2012, 230
Greg McMichael, 1993, 1995-1996, 214
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Most Qualifying Seasons
Mike Remlinger, 4
Eric O’Flaherty, 4
Greg McMichael, 3
Kerry Ligtenberg, 3
Peter Moylan, 3
Jonny Venters, 3
Best Bullpen Seasons
Which seasons had the most qualifying pitchers? And which seasons produced the highest bWAR from those pitchers?
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Most Qualifying Relievers, by Season
2002: Chris Hammond, Mike Remlinger, Darren Holmes, Kerry Ligtenberg, Tim Spooneybarger
2010: Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters, Peter Moylan, Takashi Saito
2001: Jose Cabrera, Kerry Ligtenberg, Mike Remlinger
2009: Eric O’Flaherty, Mike Gonzalez, Peter Moylan
2011: Eric O’Flaherty, George Sherrill, Jonny Venters
2013: Anthony Varvaro, David Carpenter, Luis Avilan
2017: Arodys Vizcaino, Jose Ramerez, Sam Freeman
2018: A.J. Minter, Jesse Biddle, Shane Carle
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Highest Qualifying Relievers Cumulative bWAR, by Season
2002: 8.2 bWAR
2011: 6.9 bWAR
2013: 4.8 bWAR
2017: 4.3 bWAR
2010: 3.8 bWAR
Oldest and Youngest Qualifying Relievers
Lastly, here are the oldest and youngest qualifying relieves from this list.
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Youngest
Kevin McGlinchey, 22
Tim Spooneybarger, 22
Luis Avilan, 23
A.J. Minter, 24
Eric O’Flaherty, 24
Mike Stanton, 24
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Oldest
Takashi Saito, 40
Mike Remlinger, 36
Darren Holmes, 36
Chris Hammond, 36
Steve Bedrosian, 35
Mike Remlinger, 35
Final Thoughts
No list would be complete with a few final thoughts and trivial notes from the data.
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- The only pitcher to qualify in exactly two seasons was Anthony Varvaro in 2013 and 2014.
- No pitchers from the following seasons qualified: 1990, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008.
- Six qualifying pitchers put-up 10 or more saves in a single season without being the primary closer: Greg McMichael (19, 1993), A.J. Minter (15, 2018), Arodys Vizcaino (14, 2017), Mike Remlinger (12, 2000), Kerry Ligtenberg (12, 2000) and Mike Gonzalez (10, 2009).
- The average bWAR for the qualifying relievers was 1.4.
- 20% of the list complied a bWAR of 2.0 or greater - including Tyler Matzek and Luke Jackson in 2021.
- The average innings pitched was 64.2.
- The average ERA+ was 175.86 - that drops to 164.77 by removing the top two seasons.
- Sean Newcomb (2019), Juan Cruz (2004), Jose Cabrera (2001) and Antonio Alfonseca (2004) qualified but otherwise were not mentioned.
Here’s the list of the lowest/worst of the key data points per season from qualifying relievers.
- ERA+: Jonny Venters, 2012, 125
- FIP: Jose Ramirez, 2017, 4.88
- WHIP: Jonny Venters, 2012, 1.517
- SO/W: Tim Spooneybarger, 2002, 1.247
- SO9: Anthony Varvaro, 2013, 5.3; Luis Avilan, 2013, 5.3
- bWAR: Jonny Venters, 2012, 0.4
- Innings Pitched: Hunter Cervenka, 2016, 34
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