It's Time to Stop the Scott Barlow Slander
The Kansas City Royals have bounced back nicely from their 11-game losing streak, going 4-2 over its last six games. Two pitchers have pitched in all four victories: Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow.
Staumont shouldn’t come as a surprise, he’s the unofficial “official” closer and his stuff has been talked about since before he ever made it to the majors.
Barlow may have surprised some. The long-haired reliever still seems to make half of the fan base groan when he enters a game, but that shouldn't be the case anymore. Barlow has been a good reliever for the Royals and he has taken his stuff to the next level in 2021. We are way past dreading when Barlow enters a game and should instead be rejoicing. Here are three reasons why.
Old School stats
With analytics and advanced stats, it seems you can make just about any player look good (Jorge Soler’s exit velocity). With Barlow, you don’t have to dive into the numbers to show he’s been a quality reliever. In 2021 Barlow has a 2.38 ERA, struck out 32 over 22.2 innings and has yet to give up a home run. He has a 2-1 record, seven holds and a save. He passes what I call, “the baseball card test” meaning what would you think of a player if you looked at the back of his card? You would think Barlow has been pretty dang good.
Advanced Stats
If you do happen to dive deeper into the numbers and look at Barlow’s advanced stats, he passes that test as well. Barlow’s ERA+ is 187 meaning he has been 87% better than an average MLB pitcher. His FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is 1.77. and opponents have an OPS of .590 when hitting against Barlow. For reference, Nicky Lopez has an OPS of .620 this season.
He has accumulated a WAR of .9 so far this season. Here is the list of relief pitchers with a higher WAR:
- Matt Barnes
- Aroldis Chapman
- James Karinchak
- Josh Hader
- Cesar Valdez
That's it. You should be familiar with at least three if not four of those names (who is Cesar Valdez?). Barlow has been an elite reliever this season.
Barlow has given up some barrel shots and his walks are higher than you would like, but when opposing hitters have a high chase rate and are whiffing 33% of the time, I’d throw pitches out of the strike zone, too.
Usage
Royals manager Mike Matheny loves using Barlow. Barlow already has 21 relief appearances this season, only San Francisco’s Tyler Rogers (25) and Oakland’s Yusmeiro Petit (22) have more. Barlow is the guy the Royals call on when the game is on the line. Barlow has pitched in 12 “high leverage situations.” Second on the team is Greg Holland with nine. Barlow has pitched in 12 of the Royals 20 wins and six games where the Royals lost by two or fewer runs. If it’s a close game, expect the 6-foot-3 righty with a wicked slider and a 97 mph fastball to come out of the pen.
I know most know how to go to Baseball Reference or Baseball Savant and look at these numbers yourself, but it seems the numbers are ignored when it comes to Barlow more so than with other players. Maybe it’s because Barlow joined the team in 2018 during two 100-loss seasons. Maybe it’s because he had a stretch in 2019 where his ERA was 13.40 over a 15-game stretch and fans haven’t got the taste out of their mouths. Whatever the reason, the Barlow slander needs to stop in 2021.
The stats support Scott Barlow, the Royals trust Scott Barlow, and it’s about time us fans trust Scott Barlow, too.
