A Cutter Made José Alvarado the Best Reliever in the Philadelphia Phillies Bullpen

Reliever José Alvarado has become the best reliever out of the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen, but you might not have noticed.

Author:
Ben Silver
Sep 14, 2022 3:30 PM EDT

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Philadelphia Phillies

José Alvarado should have been a bust. That's just what happens when you trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, from whom the Philadelphia Phillies acquired Alvarado on Dec. 29, 2020.

The last time the Phillies and Rays had traded, Philadelphia gave up future top-40 prospect Curtis Mead for Christopher Sánchez. That maneuver is a perfect exemple of why one should never trade with Tampa Bay, and why Matt Klentak deserved to lose his job as Phillies general manager.

And as of June 2022, it seemed like the Phillies, this time under Dave Dombrowski, had been duped again. Despite giving up only Garret Cleavinger for Alvarado, the new Phillie-reliever had become a negative.

Too unpredictable to trust, Alvarado had allowed a 4.20 ERA in 2021 with the Phillies. His 7.6 BB/9 spoke for itself, "I am not a Major League pitcher," it said. The truth of that came in 2022.

Through 13.0 innings to start the season, Alvarado had a 7.62 ERA, now his BB/9 was 7.7, proving that was all the Phillies could expect from their big lefty bullpen arm.

Alvarado had only one primary pitch, a sinker, utterly uncontrollable, which he threw at 102 mph; no doubt a good pitch when it ended up in the strikezone, but more often than not, it didn't.

So the Phillies sent him to Triple-A on May 25. Pitching as he had, Alvarado simply couldn't remain on a contender's bullpen. In Lehigh Valley for two weeks he discovered something new, a cutter.

It was a pitch Alvarado had had in his repertoire, but never relied upon. When you have a 100 mph sinker, why waste time with a 94 mph cutter? The answer was in front of him the whole time.

Alvarado had thrown the cutter for 16-percent of his pitches in 2021, batters had managed just three total bases off of it. So when he arrived back in Philadelphia on Jun. 12, the cutter became just as important to his plan of attack as his sinker.

After one shaky outing the day he arrived, Alvarado became the best arm in Phillies bullpen. Finally, he had a pitch he could throw for strikes, and it wasn't some get-me-over fastball or changeup, the cutter was a legitimate out-pitch, even more effective than the sinker.

The cutter opened up the field for Alvarado. Now batters had to worry about two plus-pitches with tunneling action. One breaking towards them, and one breaking away. Standing in against Alvarado isn't a comfortable at-bat, even with the cutter he's prone to wild spurts.

The pitch served to make batters even more fearful of the 245lb lefty. It is impossible to stand in against such an imposing figure without the thought of a 102 mph sinker coming straight at your head.

That fear, that dominance, is apparent looking as what Alvarado has done since June 16 in 30.1 innings. His ERA is 1.48, but his FIP is 1.33. After walking 7.7 batters per nine to start the season, Alvarado has only walked 3.3 per nine since Jun. 16. Not to be overlooked he's also struck out 50 in that span too, good for 14.8 K/9, he's allowed just one home run.

It might not be as good as Edwin Díaz, who's struck out 57 and walked six in that span, but it's close. Alvarado's number's are certainly better than Seranthony Domínguez, who's struck out 24 and walked seven. His ERA and FIP are 1.23 and 2.48 respectively since Jun. 16.

The Phillies may not have Díaz to close out their games like the New York Mets do, but between Domínguez and Alvarado, their late-inning combo is better than anything the Mets' can offer at Citi Field.