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Feng: The curse of small sample size in bullpen stats

Bruce Rondon has shown us extremes in his pitching this season.

On July 10 against Minnesota, the Tigers reliever gave up three hits in the ninth inning in part of an epic collapse from a 6-1 ninth-inning lead to a defeat. Rondon threw hard that game, but he left pitches out over the plate. The Twins hitters made him pay.

One of my friends called Rondon a fireballer, meaning a pitcher who throws hard but doesn’t have the ability to locate pitches. His early struggles made Tigers fans doubt his ability to recover from Tommy John surgery.