‘KBO native’ Brooks Rayleigh (35, New York Mets) is running first in the major league (MLB) hold at the beginning of the season. He could have had a better start if he hadn’t been hit hard in one game.
As of the 17th (Korean time), Rayleigh took the mound in 8 games of the season and won 6 holds without a win or loss. In terms of the overall major league, he is tied for first place with Eric Swanson (30, Toronto), and if limited to the national league, he is the sole leader.
Rayleigh, who had a career-high season with 22 holds and a 2.68 ERA at Tampa Bay last year, could change the hold record at the current pace.
In fact, if you look at the details, he’s not a very good pitcher. Rayleigh, who recorded 1 inning, 2 strikeouts and no runs against Miami on the 31st of last month, his first appearance, showed a good start by winning a hold in the game two days later. However, against Milwaukee on the 5th, he collapsed with 4 hits (2 home runs) and 4 runs in 1 inning.
At that time, Rayleigh got a right-handed hit by leadoff hitter Christian Yelich, and even after a run, Willie Adames hit first and second base. He took a breather by striking out Lou D. Tellez on a swing, but then collapsed with back-to-back homers from Brian Anderson and Garrett Mitchell. Reilly then came up in four games and continued to pitch scoreless. However, he showed an uneasy aspect by allowing on-base in every game. Accordingly, his season earned run average was 6.75 as of the 17th.
This can be speculated to be due to an injury suffered before the season. Rayleigh was originally scheduled to play as a member of the U.S. national team in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) this year. However, due to an injury, he was replaced by Aaron Roof (36, LA Angels) right before the opening of the tournament in early March. 스포츠토토
After the opening, Rayleigh’s fastball rotation rate was at the top of the league (top 11%), just like last year. However, the average speed of the two-seam fastball is 89.4 miles per hour (approximately 143.8 km), which is more than one mile lower than last year (90.7 miles per hour). As a result, the swing rate and barrel batting average (batting average of 0.500, batting average of 1.500 or more), which were above the league average last season, fell. Even so, the percentage of strong batting balls is in the top 11%.
As such, a red flag was turned on even in the first place in the hold, but since the cause is rather clear, the possibility of Rayleigh’s rebound can be fully expected. If he can recover from the aftermath of the injury and regain last year’s pitch, he is likely to show the appearance of the league’s top bullpen.
After making his big league debut in 2012, Rayleigh, who failed to show much for three seasons, moved to the Lotte Giants in the KBO League ahead of the 2015 season. He won 48 wins in 5 years and kept the Lotte starting lineup. In 2017, he led Lotte to the postseason with 13 wins and an earned run average of 3.80.
Afterwards, Rayleigh, who returned to the United States in 2020, switched to a bullpen pitcher and showed good performance. Starting with his minor league contract, he signed a two-year, $10 million (approximately 13.1 billion won) contract with Tampa Bay ahead of the 2022 season.