Andrés Muñoz doesn’t have to be better than he was in last year’s second half. Starting on June 13, roughly when he reworked his slider, he struck out 43.8% of the batters he faced, while walking just 5.6% and allowing zero home runs. Thanks to throwing eight more innings than Edwin Díaz, that made him FanGraphs’ most valuable reliever in MLB over that four-month stretch. But his playoff performance, especially against the Astros, sent him into the offseason with a reminder that you can always get better.
But how, exactly, is a pitcher like Andrés Muñoz supposed to get better?