I thought strike out guys were closers ground ball pitchers were more middle inning guys, was I completely backwards in my thinking?
Treinen still strikes out nearly one guy per inning. The mop up guy, long relief, ground ball machines are more like how Doug Fister was. Treinen is like Zach Britton lite, and Britton is in the same conversation as Mariano with respect to poor contact. Britton obviously generates more grounders than Mariano did, but Mariano was never the strikeout machine that say Miller, Betances, or Chapman are. If you can dependably get poor contact on a soft fly ball or on a weak grounder, the value there is high.
My only issue with Treinen is that I worry about the free passes he issues. Britton has shown much better command of the zone than Treinen, so regardless of the groundball thing, Treinen's biggest saving grace will be to lower the walks. If he can limit how many guys get on, he shouldn't be pitching 20-30 pitches an inning and in theory can be used multiple days in a row with less fatigue than someone who is getting the strikeouts, but is constantly working counts up to set up the right pitch. Treinen should throw that turbo sinker low in the zone and generate outs one way or another.
