Detroit Tigers: A look back at the bullpen’s performance in 2021

When the 2021 season began, the Detroit Tigers‘ bullpen had many questions and was considered a weakness. Now that the season is over, it is now a source of strength heading into 2022.

During this week’s end of the season press conference, General Manager Al Avila said that one avenue that the Detroit Tigers will not be pursuing this off-season is bullpen help. Granted, the Tigers could strengthen their bullpen from within with any minor league arms that could step up next year. One name to look out for is right-hander Chavez Fernander.

Fernander is heading to the Arizona Fall League among some of the biggest names in the Tigers farm system. If he could hold his own and improve from a solid season between West Michigan and Erie in 2021, he could be in the mix for a mid-season call-up. Not too shabby for being a 35th round draft pick in 2018.

Detroit Tigers bullpen by the numbers:

Early in the season, the bullpen got off to a rocky start. In April, they put up an fWAR of -0.5 and held the worst ERA in the league at 6.70.  But starting in May, the numbers started to perk up towards a steady improvement.

They posted an ERA of 3.77 and K per 9 of 9.92. The reason why I mentioned the K per 9 is that in 2019, they averaged one of 8.61 for the season and in May of 2019, it was 6.83 which was at the time dead last in the league.  The shortened season of 2020 does put a damper on the data from the past three seasons so that is why I wanted to use 2019 as a barometer.

Let’s take a look at the arms who made up the 2021 Detroit Tigers bullpen and how under pitching coach Chris Fetter,  a few arms that got lost in the shuffle in the last two seasons, came up clutch at times this season.

Detroit Tigers RHP Kyle Funkhouser

There was a very obscure song in 1996 by the artist Armanda van Helden that is a series of samples with one voice saying “the Funk Phenomena” and it’s highly catchy, just like how Kyle Funkhouser caught onto the bullpen in 2021 after starting the year in Toledo.

He joined the bullpen on May 6 to little fanfare because if you were looking merely at his stat line, it wasn’t good. 17.2IP, 18 walks with an ERA of 7.64 but there was 25 strikeouts in those 17.2 innings pitched. Whatever the staff recommends in Toledo to the crew here in Detroit, they are going to run with and that is what happen.

In nine games in May, Funkhouser posted an ERA of 2.13 and allowed three runs on six hits.  After last season in which he relied heavily on mainly his fastball, Funkhouser instead went to what Statcast considered a “sinker” and a slider mix. His strikeout rate in a limited season last season was 14.8% and this season, it jumped up to 21.1%.

While his walk rate was 12.8% on the season, he limited hard-hit contact, with a barrel rate of just 4.6% which put him among one of the top percentiles in the league.

His September did not end on a high note as he posted his highest ERA of the season with a 5.25 and a WHIP of 1.92.  One possible reason behind it is his sinker started to get squared up more. All the home runs he allowed in September came off the same pitch.

Regardless, Funkhouser took a step forward this season when a bullpen staple in Buck Farmer started to struggle.

Detroit Tigers RHP Michael Fulmer

When Michael Fulmer came back in 2020 from Tommy John surgery, he was limited to just three innings per start.  He often was quoted that despite the results of some of his bad starts, he felt good in his pitch mix.

Fast forward to spring training, when there was a slight velocity drop and suddenly, it was back to 96-97 with movement and Detroit had a weapon they used as a starter than in the bullpen full time after that.

However, injuries struck Fulmer. First, he had a shoulder strain in the first week of June that knocked him out for a week then later in the month, he had a right cervical spine strain that would knock him out for a month.

But when he came back for the second half of the season, he was one of the steadiest relievers out of the pen. In 29.2 innings of work, he posted an ERA of 1.52 with 9 walks and 31 strikeouts. The number that really stood out was the one home run he gave up after the month of June.

His chase rate stood out in the 89 percentile of the league and he was among the best relievers in the last two months of the season. Combine with him on the right side and Gregory Soto on the left, the two accounted for 32 saves this season.

A fun fact to note. Since 2020, he has thrown his curve 64 times (38 times in 2021, 26 in 2020) and has not allowed a hit, and hitters against him in high leverage situations in 2021 only hit .200 against him.

Detroit Tigers RHP Jose Cisnero and Alex Lange

Jose Cisnero’s season ended on a sour note as he hit the IL with an elbow issue.  Cisnero’s first half of the season was a big reason why the Tigers were able to climb out of the mini hole they were in.

In June in 13.1 innings of work, he allowed just one run and posted an ERA of 0.68 and after a solid July, in 13 innings of work in August, posted an ERA of 1.38. He was able to batters out with a 45% ground ball rate, which helped based on his K per 9 numbers on the season of 9.05, which dropped from last season.(10.31)

With Cisnero shutting it down in September, it gave an opportunity to Alex Lange. Lange struggled in callups from Toledo before but he figured out pitch sequencing and a changeup to go along with his fastball and a “spiked curve” as he calls it. 

Lange threw 19.2 innings from July until the end of the season and posted an ERA of 1.39 and allowed just three earned runs.  After struggling to find his command earlier in the season, something clicks for Lange, who has set himself up for a bigger role next season.

As far as Cisnero goes, his going onto the IL was a precautionary move and hopefully, he is back to full strength next season. Having Lange emerge does help Detroit as gave them some much-needed depth.

For Jason Foley and Bryan Garcia, Foley has a small sample size to work with as he threw just 10 innings this season. Despite the 1.67 ERA in his call-up, he still walked too many batters, and the same for Garcia.

One call-up that was made surprised many Tigers fans when it happened after his last season problems crept in again but it was the way he finished that resonated with Tigers fans.

Detroit Tigers RHP Joe Jimenez

There are various moments throughout the season that stand out in your mind. To me, one of them among the bullpen was Joe Jimenez on the road in the series against Oakland. in two games over an inning of work, he walked seven batters with four walks in his first appearance and three in his second.

At that moment, I will be honest, I thought his days wearing a Detroit Tigers uniform were over. His command lacked and he looked lost on the mound.

He didn’t appear again until May 11th against Kansas City in which he allowed three runs but after that, from May 16th until June 4th, which spans eight games and seven innings of work, he allowed one run over three hits, struck out 8 and held batters to a .130 batting average. Granted, his walks were still an issue but it appeared Jimenez was getting back into regular use.

His 11.32 K per 9 actually led the team and what was interesting about his breakdown was he gave up six home runs in 45 innings of work while in 2020, he gave up seven in 22 innings of work.

The walk numbers are still high for Jimenez but one thing is certain, based on his numbers, manager A.J. Hinch used him primarily in low leverage situations which perhaps helped his confidence. He pitched 27.2 innings in low leverage situations and just 3.1 in high leverage situations with 14.1 in medium leverage. That is a manager figuring out Jimenez’s strengths and using him properly.