Position Report Card: Closing Pitcher

This post will be short, sweet, and too the point. Any Pittsburgh Pirate fan should like Mark Melancon. Not only is he dominant on the mound, but he is a great person off the field. On the field, Melacon attacks the strike zone with he 90-93 mph cutter. He took over for Jason Grilli as the Pirates closer when Grilli was traded to the Angels. He struggled at first, which is to be expected with a player taking on a new role, but he then found his own and competed as one of the top closers in the National Lague the rest of the way.

Pirates closer Mark Melanco
photo courtsey: piratesprospects.com

Melancon finsihed the season with a great 1.90 era in 71 innings pitched. He converted 33 of his 37 save attempts, good for an 89.2%. Known for his control, Melanco only had 11 walks giving him an incredible .87 WHIP. WHIP is the statistic that basically tells you how many baserunners the pitcher allows per inning. Anything under one is great.

***Overall Grade B+