NEWSLETTER
Before the season, we talked about whether Adbert Alzolay could emerge as a closing option for the Chicago Cubs. You knew he had the pitches and the constitution for it, but I would say there were considerable questions about how consistent he could be against lefties to really own those late innings.
Well, last night, Alzolay faced a couple Rays lefties over the course of his dominant two-inning save and he struck them both out.
That’s not to say that a single appearance tells a sufficient story, but outside of that one blip in Philadelphia, Alzolay has pitched well against lefties all year, holding them to a .154/.148/.308 slash line, with a 29.6% K rate, and he hasn’t walked a single one. With more confidence in his cutter, and with two different shapes to his slider, Alzolay just seems to have much better weapons to take on lefties this year.
Mostly I just wanted to praise Alzolay’s performance last night, facing six Rays batters in a one-run game, retiring them all, and striking out four of them. It was the kind of thing you knew he had in him, and it’s the reason those questions about his closer ability bounced around in the offseason.
Even if Alzolay is never named “The Closer,” and even if you still want him available for multi-inning appearances (like last night!), I do think we’ll continue seeing him get those biggest of the big moments. The stuff is as good as anyone’s in the bullpen, and Alzolay definitely has the makeup to be unfazed by those big spots. Oh, and obviously it’s not like anyone else has taken the job and run with it.
