It has been rather absurd watching Jonny Venters pitch this year and how seemingly overmatched big league hitters are in trying to deal with him. Hitters have the misfortune of trying to square up a sinker that tails in to lefties, away from righties while also sinking like a stone. All the movement made me forget that it traveling 94+ on most occasions. He complements this outstanding offering with a plus slider, making him murder on left handers while making him merely torturous to right handers. To make my point, the league is slashing .107/.192/.135 against him, meaning that Venters has turned the National League into a below average hitting pitcher when he faces them.
And it all goes back to the sinker. Looking at Venters' batted ball numbers is something to behold. 62 balls have been put into play this year against Jonny, and a staggering 53 of them have been on the ground, producing a rather useful ground ball rate of 85.5% for the season. For comparisons sake, Venters led the league in ground ball rate last season at 68.4%. So as good as he was last year, he's stepped it up another notch or two. Hitters just can't elevate the ball against him, much less square it up. Only 3 batted balls have been classified as line drives off of Venters. Absurd.
In addition, Venters possesses a K rate above 8 and a BB/K ratio of 3.25 to 1, which is up from 2.38 last year. Being able to complement a ridiculous ground ball rate with a K rate of almost a batter an inning just isn't fair, and adding that to the fact that Venters' BB rate has been above average as well has just tilted the scales towards Venters even more than it was before. With numbers like this, he isn't just the best non-closer in the National League. He just might be the best reliever in the National League, period.
So, should he close? My answer to this is no, he should be kept exactly where he is. I'm a believer in Craig Kimbrel and think that his 4 blown saves have been partly attributable to some rotten luck. Kimbrel's FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is actually lower than Venters' is, meaning that Kimbrel has been pretty damn good himself. He is striking out almost 14 per nine, his K/BB ratio is still over 3 to 1, and 52% of his batted balls have been on the ground as well. He's a quality closer.
I think Venters is better than Kimbrel at this point, but Kimbrel is still excellent, and I think Venters is more valuable to the team in the role he currently occupies. Because he isn't designated as the closer, Fredi Gonzalez freely uses him when he sees fit, which is either to pitch the eighth inning or to put out any fires that arise at any point during the game before the ninth inning. Basically, Gonzalez can use him in exclusively in situations that have the highest leverage, which is exactly when you want your best pitchers to be pitching. Being the closer doesn't always allow for that, as you are limited to pitching the 9th inning, which might come with a 3 run lead. However, in that same game with a 3 run lead in the ninth, there may have been a situation with runners on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out in the 7th. Wouldn't you rather use your best pitcher then?
Because the Braves have an excellent option in Kimbrel to close games, Fredi is free to use Venters in high leverage situations whenever they might arise. Ideally, these situations would include some ninth innings when he hasn't been used to that point, but baseball traditionalism won't allow for that, as somebody has to be designated the closer. As long as there are designated closers and as long as the Braves have an option as good as Kimbrel to be that guy, Venters should stay right where he should be, as the Braves will win more games that way.
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