NEW YORK – Coming into the postseason, Ryne Stanek was one of baseball’s most elite relievers. He posted a 0.98 ERA in leverage situations mostly over the final two months of the regular season.
These statistics don’t lie. The Astros right-hander walked a few too many, but almost never allowed anyone to score.
So when it was halfway through the American League Championship Series and Stanek had made just one postseason appearance, out of necessity in an 18-inning affair, Houston manager Dusty Baker decided to have a conversation with the his reliever
“He approached me,” Stanek said Saturday. “But I think it was more because other people had been making a bigger deal than us. I know it’s going. It’s just sometimes the game doesn’t flow in the direction to get me in. Yeah, I’d love to pitch every game. But that’s not how baseball works.”
But in theory, the games to own flowed in the direction of Stanek. The Astros have had plenty of early and late leads. This is perfect timing for a pitcher with a 1.15 ERA during the regular season and a 3.02 FIP who strikes out more than one batter an inning. It’s especially true for a pitcher in a bullpen that doesn’t have a lefty and has reverse splits to typically dominate left-handed hitters.
But the Astros’ bullpen has been so good and their postseason roles are more defined. Hector Neris first out of the pen. Then Bryan Abreu. There’s Rafael Montero for the eighth. And closer Ryan Pressley for the ninth inning. It has been formulaic and effective. There’s no reason, so far, for Stanek to change his mind.
Stanek has now pitched two games in these playoffs. He has four strikeouts in two innings. No hitter has arrived. The 31-year-old pitched nearly every game in the 2021 postseason. He missed just three of his 16 games. It wasn’t like that this time.
“He’s going to go in there, on the edge,” Baker said midway through the ALCS. “And I talked to him about it. I just said, you know, you can’t pitch to everybody all the time, and our starters have been doing really well. But I’ve got to get him in there to keep him sharp.”
Read the full story here.
(Photo: Troy Taormina / USA Today)
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