Sergio Romo is greatly underappreciated. By xFIP, FIP, fWAR, FIP-, xFIP-, WHIP, and tERA, he's been the best reliever on the Giants thus far. Yet he's tossed fewer innings than Javier Lopez, Jeremy Affeldt, Ramon Ramirez, Dan Runzler, Brian Wilson, and Guillermo Mota. It makes no sense.
Among pitchers with at least 15 innings pitched, he ranks:
- 1st in the majors in Strike%
- 2nd in the majors in K/BB
- 1st in the majors in adjusted OPS+ against
- 1st in the majors in FIP
- 1st in the majors in tERA
- 1st in the majors in xFIP
Simply put, he's been awesome. Not just a good reliever that Bruce Bochy, for some reason, doesn't use that often. He's been one of the best relievers in the majors.
What people don't understand is that Bochy has been "under-using" Romo since September of 2010.
From September 5 to May 20, Romo made 32 consecutive appearances in which he tossed fewer than 17 pitches. Yes, it's an arbitrary number. But it ranks as the third-longest such streak dating back to 1919.
I don't know what kind of other factors have gone into Bochy's Romo usage, but it makes no sense. A reliever this good is an asset, and Bochy (and many Giants fans, too) doesn't seem to appreciate that.
Romo can handle a more demanding workload, and he deserves one.
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