What if I told you that in 2020, one of the most useful pitchers on the Cleveland Indians was nearly 40 years old, a failed starter, and could barely break 90 miles an hour with his fastball? A guy without some kind of age- and physics-pitch, just a dude who, at first glance, should be mediocre at best and downright bad at worst? Wouldn’t you think that “effective” was just a euphemism for “least bad”? That would be an understandable reaction. But no, instead, Oliver Pérez was pretty damn good this year. With how new rules changed the way pitchers had to manage batters, he was as vital to the success of the relief corps as anyone
With the new three-batter minimum, the world of the LOOGY (or in some pitchers’ cases, ROOGY) is swiftly coming to an end.