Dodgers News: Reliever's Struggles vs. Left-Handed Hitting Could Keep Him Off Postseason Roster
Dodgers reliever Craig Kimbrel is on the postseason bubble after a season in which he has never been able to put together a prolonged hot stretch out of the bullpen.
On Sunday afternoon, before Los Angeles took on Colorado in the third game of their season-ending six-game series, L.A. manager Dave Roberts met with the media for his usual pregame scrum in the home dugout at Dodger Stadium.
Roberts was asked if, in a bullpen that prides itself on being able to get both lefties and righties out, Kimbrel's struggles against lefties specifically might be what ends up keeping him off the playoff roster. After some contemplation, Roberts gave a pretty blunt answer:
"Craig's just gotta be better. I can put him in the best, the optimal positions — and to his credit, he's been more open to pitching in a different role — but you just can't walk guys and you've gotta get them out. And he knows that. So we're going to have some decisions to make. And certainly, guys that show that they can get left and right out, that are platoon neutral, as you look out into the postseason, where lineups are staggered, there's pinch-hitting more than there is in the regular season ... that's certainly a factor."
This season, Kimbrel has allowed a .601 OPS to right-handers and a .784 OPS to lefties. Put another way, righties have hit like Hanser Alberto, and lefties have hit like Justin Turner.
As Roberts mentioned, one of Kimbrel's biggest issues this year has been walks, and that has actually been an issue of roughly equal amplitude against both sides. Kimbrel actually has a higher walk rate against righties, but all five of his hit batters have been lefties. When you roll BB and HBP together, Kimbrel's rate against righties is 13.3% and against lefties it's 12.7%.
The big issue is the actual hits he's given up. Against righties, he's allowed a .202 average and .294 slugging percentage; against lefties, those are .264 and .427.
Evan Phillips has been death to both righties and lefties. Yency Almonte and Alex Vesia have both been very good against righties and other-worldly against lefties. Chris Martin has been very good against both sides. Tommy Kahnle has been solid against lefties and lights-out against righties.
The Dodgers have a lot of platoon-neutral options in the bullpen, and for all of Kimbrel's struggles, his weakness against lefties might be the thing that ultimately costs him his spot on the NLDS roster.
