In October of 2013 a young pitcher by the name of Michael Wacha burst onto the scene by pitching one of the most critical games a pitcher can imagine, an elimination game on the road under the bright lights of October baseball. Wacha etched his name in Redbird history by hurling 8 near perfect innings to help the Cardinals earn a nail biting 2-1 victory and brought the series back to the Arch City, where the Cardinals would successfully get the win in game 5 and eventually go on to snag their nineteenth National League Pennant. Wacha opened the eyes of Cardinal nation, and quickly became a fan favorite overnight. Three years later however, Wacha is the owner of a medioric 3.78 career ERA, and has struggled to have the ability to pitch a complete season. Nagging shoulder injuries have repeatedly shut down the young pitcher every season, and have left the club frantically searching for a replacement during the pivotal points of the season. With Wacha becoming arbitration eligible soon, the organization must ask this simple, yet difficult question to themselves, would Michael Wacha be more valuable as a reliever?
This notion of a starter converted into a reliever is no epiphany, there have been numerous examples of this happening in Major League Baseball. Some of the game’s most dominant relievers such as Wade Davis and Zach Britton were once failed starters turned relievers. Perhaps Wacha can join this list as well? There are multiple reasons why Wacha should be a reliever versus a starter, the most compelling being his health. His body may favor not having to be put through the rigors of pitching two hundred or more innings per year, and instead pitching a much lighter sixty to seventy innings. The Cardinals have struggled in successfully finding a reliever that is able to bridge the gap between the starter and closer. With Seung Hwan Oh coming off a dominant rookie season, a duo of Wacha and Oh in the 8th and 9th has the potential to be one of the best late game duos in baseball.
Michael Wacha’s struggles last season can be attributed partly towards health, but I believe that a good portion of of his struggles stem from the fact that he only has two pitches that he can trust and rely on. According to FanGraphs, Wacha threw either a fastball or change up 89 percent of the time. This means that batters know that they are basically only going to see a fastball or change up. This pitch arsenal is not viable for a starting pitcher who has to go through an order two or three times in a game, but it can certainly be effective pitching only one inning to a minimal number of hitters. Many of the best relievers only posses one or two pitches, the greatest reliever to ever toe the rubber, Mariano Rivera, pitched his way to Cooperstown using only a single pitch.
In recent years, the bullpen has transformed from being an after thought for most teams, to being arguably the most important aspects of a club. If you evaluate at the recent World Series champions, whether it’s Koji Uehara for the 2013 Red Sox, Wade Davis for the 2015 Royals, or just recently Aroldis Chapman for the Cubs, the one common denominator is that they all have dominant closers and bullpens. With Wacha being a reliever in 2017, the Cardinals have the opportunity to build their own super bullpen and have a great chance to return to October baseball and hopefully bring the Gateway City its 12th world title.
