It’s not even close to that time of the year, but it’s never too early to start talking about the 2015 season. With the winter meetings having wrapped up, we now have a decent idea of who will be on the 2015 gang of the Oakland A’s. One player that will assuredly be on the squad is Sean Doolittle, so let’s play a game with the bearded one. It’s simple. I’m going to write a bunch of stuff, then ask over or under. You answer those questions in the comments below. Ready to play? Too late, here we go!
Saves
2014 saw Doolittle take over the closer role, and take it with authority. The flame-throwing southpaw set the Oakland record for saves by a lefty in 2014 with 22, in 26 opportunities. It is fair to assume that with a whole season’s worth of opportunities, Doolittle will accumulate more than 22 saves, and break his own record. Of course injuries (intercostal strain) could play a part in how well Doo performs, but let’s assume a clean bill of health.
FanGraphs has him projected at 28 saves, but I’m going to make this more interesting. Over or under 30 saves for Sean Doolittle in 2015?
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ERA
Doolittle’s 2.73 ERA was his best to date, lowering his career average to 2.97. Most fans would be happy with a repeat (myself included), but his FIP (fielding independent pitching) each of the last three seasons has been much lower than his ERA totals, ranging from 1/2 a run lower to a full run per year. Last year, his FIP was 1.71, and his career average in this category is an impressive 2.20.
If we find the average of the two, it’s roughly 2.55. Let’s run with that. Over or under a 2.55 ERA for Sean Doolittle in 2015?
Walks
Not everything can be serious. Doo has been credited for walking hitters at an incredibly low rate, and is part of the reason why his strikeout to walk ratio was through the roof last season at 11.13. The other factor, obviously, was that he struck out 89 in just 62 2/3 innings. The strikeouts will likely continue (you can’t hit what you can’t see), but can he keep his walk rate low? He allowed just 8 walks in 2014, and has yet to allow more than 13 in a season.
Assuming he stays healthy, there will likely be a few innings tacked on to his workload in 2015, and with that the possibility of walking an extra batter or two increases. Let’s set the bar at a fair mark and say over or under 10 walks for Doolittle in 2015?
It’s that easy. Think you know how Doo will do next season? Comment below, or tweet at us @FS_SwinginAs !