Francisco Liriano: Ready to Contend Again

By Jack McMullen
Remember when the Minnesota Twins had arguable the two best left-handed arms in the
American League (at the time) at the front of their rotation?
One of them is currently attempting yet another Major League comeback, while the other is one
of the newest faces in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform.
Francisco Lirianos 2016 has been far from ideal in his mind. It started with a 4-1 victory over the
rival Cardinals, where Liriano was called upon to make the Opening Day start in place of an
ailing Gerrit Cole and went six innings, giving up three hits and no earned runs. As of July 31st,
he found himself leading Major League Baseball in walks allowed and possessing a 6-11 record
with a 5.46 ERA for the spiraling Pirates. On August 1st, however, the 32-year-old southpaw
was given a chance at new life this season, when Toronto acquired him just as the deadline
struck midnight (or 4pm, but whats the difference?).
Will Liriano be the Savior of the North and step right into the shoes of the ALs ERA leader in
Aaron Sanchez when he moves to the bullpen? Absolutely not. But, there is substantial
evidence to believe that he can not only give the Blue Jays innings, but important ones and help
them claw their way right back into contention in October.

For what the

old baseball
mind sees,
Lirianos
ground-ball
rates are
something to
be giddy
about. If a
pitcher does
not have the
tools and
fastball
velocity to
elevate hitters
eyes, he
simply should
not, and he
has become
wary of that,
as Liriano has
seen his
velocity dip over the last couple of years. He has the consciousness and consistency to keep
the ball low in the zone (a lot of the time too low, as seen in the figure below and by his MLBworst 69 BBs) and force hitters on top of the ball, pushing the ball into the ground. With an

athletic infield behind

Toronto, especially
side in Tulowitzki
Donaldson, these
balls will lead to far
ground outs than
singles in the coming

him in
on the left
and
ground
more
infield
months.

Liriano does not waver much from his tendencies with runners on base, which, in terms of his
pitch placement, is a
good sign.
However, he seems
to be
leaving a much
higher
percentage of
pitches over
the middle of the
plate and
middle-in to a right
handed
hitter than he would
be in the
wind-up, but he is
not getting
as badly hurt there
as one
might expect. With
the natural
cut to Lirianos
fastball
playing in, it explains
the .222 BA
on eighteen at bats
ending
middle-in.

Francisco Liriano has been given a chance no one saw coming for him until quite recently. Hes
back in the American League, in a weather-controlled stadium (similar to Minnesotas
Metrodome), thrusted back into a playoff race. He by no means is a messiah, but he is the battle
tested left hander that Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins set out for, and he is the one that they got.