Jason Motte and 10 Most Underrated Relievers in MLB

Last year’s MLB postseason made a bearded hero out of San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson.

This year the role of emerging scruff sensation goes to Jason Motte, the St. Louis Cardinals’ hirsute ninth inning specialist.

While Motte’s beard may lack Wilsonian majesty, the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers are discovering his fastball is just as powerful.

It seems every year a handful of relievers emerge from obscurity to dominate big league hitters, and all of it happening before we can learn their names.

The guys on this list won’t grace your Wheaties box anytime soon. They will, however, help your team win some ball games.

Kenley Jansen: Los Angeles Dodgers

Among relief pitchers with 40 innings or more, Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Kenley Jansen led all baseball in strikeouts per nine innings.

And I don't just mean this year.

Jansen, a converted catcher who began pitching just two years ago, set a new MLB single-season mark with 16.10 strikeouts per inning while becoming a central cog in the Dodgers bullpen.

To coin a new term in his record-setting honor, that's whiffalicious.

Sporting a heavy fastball touching the mid-90s the growth trajectory of Jansen's game is downright scary. Forget about rehabilitating fallen closer Jonathan Broxton, the Dodgers have their late-inning arm of the future in Jansen.

For a team that finished hot and has some key pieces already in place, Jansen gives downtrodden Dodgers fans reason for hope heading into 2012.

Al Alburquerque: Detroit Tigers

Beside the bonus points he gets for alliteration, Al Alburquerque can make an honest claim to being one of the league’s most promising young relievers.

Employing the traditional reliever repertoire of a mid-90s fastball and a hard slider, the leggy Alburquerque struck out 67 batters in just 43.1 innings pitched this year.

Missing bats is nothing new to the Dominican hurler. He posted strikeout rates of over 10 per nine innings in Rookie ball, High-A and Double-A during his minor league career.

The knock on young Al is his control, which remained an issue with Detroit this year. Walking six batters per nine innings will ultimately compromise his effectiveness.

Luckily for Alburquerque and the Tigers faithful, there’s time for the 25-year-old to make adjustments. Right now both parties will take his 1.87 ERA and .149 slugging percentage against.

David Robertson: New York Yankees

By regular reliever standards I wouldn’t call Yankees setup man David Robertson underrated. Most baseball fans know the name, even if they couldn’t tell you too much else about the guy.

But by New York Yankees standards Robertson is a veritable Joe Sixpack.

Robertson struck out a cool 100 batters this year, two more than Bomber starter Ivan Nova, and sported a minuscule 1.08 ERA. You would think a reliever with those numbers, playing in the league’s biggest market for its most storied franchise, would get pages of ink.

Yet Robertson’s name gets buried behind those of Jose Valverde, Jonathan Papelbon, Neftali Feliz and others in conversations about the AL’s best relievers. He keeps putting up numbers like those in 2011 that order won’t hold much longer.

Robertson’s success relies on a fastball that, while not speedy by conventional measures, generates tons of swings-and-misses due to a deceptive release angle.

Don't believe me? Check the accompanying picture.

Sergio Romo: San Francisco Giants

In a bullpen with Brian Wilson, perhaps the most recognizable reliever in baseball, fellow San Francisco Giants' hurlers don't get tons of press.

When you’ve got an official Taco Bell spokesman in your midst, the rest is just background noise.

From a baseball standpoint, though, there’s another black-bearded reliever in the Giants ‘pen just as worthy of your meal money.

With a devastating slider that ranks among the game’s single best pitches and pinpoint control, Sergio Romo posted a mind-numbing 14 strikeout-to-walk ration in 2011.

Fourteen!

The next best mark among qualifying relievers was Kojii Uehara’s 9.44.

Romo reached that numbing number by walking only five batters all year.

Compare that to AJ Burnett, who walked five batters in a game on five separate occasions.

Mike Adams: Texas Rangers

Mike Adams finally got some long overdue recognition this year when the Texas Rangers traded for him midseason.

Before the deadline drama, Adams’ excellence went largely unnoticed.

For the last four years Adams has been one of the best relievers in baseball, and I don’t make that claim lightly.

In each of those campaigns Adams has an ERA under 2.40, a WHIP under 1.07, at least one strikeout per inning and consistently elite ground-ball rates. Scouts call his cutter “unhittable,” and he can complement that pitch with a mid-90s four-seam fastball.

Combine that with stellar control and it’s clear that Adams’ performance is not simply the result of San Diego’s spacious, pitcher confines.

To wit, Adams’ road ERA was almost a full point lower than his home ERA during his last full season as a Padre.

Jason Motte: St. Louis Cardinals

As the baseball public is quickly discovering, St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Motte has gas.

The right-hander throws in the upper-90s with a slider good enough to keep hitters off the hard stuff.

Despite the gaudy radar readings, though, Motte doesn’t post big strikeout numbers. His 8.34 strikeouts per nine innings place him just 81st among qualifying relievers.

Motte’s real calling card is his control, which is exceptional for a pitcher of his make-up. Motte walked only 16 batters this year, and the resultant .956 WHIP owes itself in large part to that precision.

Sean Marshall (Chicago Cubs)

In a season lacking optimism, left-handed reliever Sean Marshall gives Cubs fans reason to cheer—if only for a few batters.

Marshall had the best strikeout-to-walk ratio among lefty relievers with over 40 innings en route to a 2.26 ERA. The failed starter finally appears settled at the big league level and that should provide a bit of direction for the Cubs as they try to reload under presumptive GM Theo Epstein.

Even better news: Marshall proved he can shut down right-handed batters as well as lefties this year.

An even 4.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio against righties suggests Marshall can fill a more substantial role in the bold Chicago future.

Vinnie Pestano: Cleveland Indians

The overlooked sidewinder, a classic bullpen prototype.

Like Chad Bradford, Darren O’Day, Dan Quisenberry and other submariners before him, scouts didn’t think much of Vinnie Pestano when he graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2006.

The Cleveland Indians took a 20th-round flier on the sidearmed maestro, and begrudgingly moved him through the minor league levels as he dominated each stop.

The slow climb finally reached Cleveland this year, as the 26-year-old owned his first full year in the majors.

A 2.32 ERA, backed up by 84 strikeouts in 62 innings, suggest the long-shot is here to stay.

Eric O’Flaherty: Atlanta Braves

The least celebrated member of Atlanta’s dominant O’Ventbrel trio, Eric O’Flaherty was the only reliever in baseball this year with over 40 innings and an ERA under one.

O’Flaherty is the  typical fastball-slider southpaw with the kind of deceptive motion that gives lefties fits. Collectively, lefties hit just .195 against O’Flaherty while striking out 25 times and walking only twice.

That sort of success eluded the reliever in Seattle, where he wallowed in the depths of the bullpen and eventually earned a release in 2008.

The Braves, as they seem to do routinely with pitchers, swooped in and earned a big reward on a low-risk proposition.

Greg Holland: Kansas City Royals

The 5’11”, 200-pound bulldog from Western Carolina wasn’t anybody’s can’t-miss prospect.

Drafted by the Royals in the 10th round of the 2007 draft, Greg Holland improved steadily through his minor league tenure before breaking into the bigs in 2010.

After a cup of coffee, Holland earned a permanent spot on the team in the 2011 season and hasn’t disappointed. The 25-year-old collected 74 strikeouts in 60 innings and turned in an impressive 1.80 ERA for his rookie campaign.

As the rest of the young Royals come along, Holland finds himself at the center of a talented organizational nucleus.

If that talent translates to wins, we may well see Holland in Motte’s place a few years down the road.