This is a series of evaluations that will be done this offseason on every player that closed the season on the 40-man roster for the Minnesota Twins, with one appearing every weekday from now until each player has been evaluated. The plan is to start with Mr. Albers and move all the way through the pitchers, then to the catchers, infielders, outfielders and finally those listed as designated hitters on the club’s official MLB.com roster. That means we’ll wrap it up with Miguel Sano sometime in the first week of December.
- Name: Brandon Kintzler
- 2016 Role: Worked his way up to a set-up role with the Twins after his call-up in May, but was closing within a month after Kevin Jepsen was ousted from the role, and finished the season in that capacity.
- Expected 2017 Role: May again close, but his skill set is better suited to putting out fires in the middle or late innings.
- MLB Stats: 3.15 ERA (3.61 FIP) in 54.1 innings, 17 saves, 5.8 K/9, 1.3 BB/9, 61.9 percent GB rate, 0.5 fWAR.
- MiLB Stats: 3.52 ERA (2.52 FIP) in 15.1 innings, 6.5 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 at Triple-A Rochester.
- Contract Status: Arbitration-eligible for the final time this offseason, free agent after next season.
2016 Lowdown:
As noted with Buddy Boshers earlier in this series, the Twins brass — primarily Terry Ryan — has done a fine job in recent seasons as it pertains to finding relief help in the strangest places. And while Kintzler was far more of a Blaine Boyer (non-tendered) than a Casey Fien (Mexico) or Boshers (Indy leagues) as far as how the Twins found him, he still panned out brilliantly for a team that had almost nothing go right all season.
That’s not to say that there isn’t an incredible level of perseverance to be associated with Kintzler, however. He was a member of the 2009 St. Paul Saints and had spent the previous two years in the American Association with Winnipeg, and on a couple of occasions had thought about quitting, he told the Star Tribune’s Patrick Reusse this season. That Padres released him in 2006 when he needed shoulder surgery, and at one point he was scooping ice cream in his hometown of Las Vegas.
But as far as recent developments in Kintzler’s case, he was coming off an iffy 2014 season with the Brewers — he was sub-replacement level despite a shiny 3.24 ERA — and an injury-riddled 2015 that saw him throw only seven big league innings all season. It was incredibly frustrating for Kintzler, who had been a trusted set-up man on the 2013 Brewers club. Kintzler was setting up Jim Henderson that season, using his heavy sinker to pitch to a team-best 2.69 ERA with just two home runs allowed in 77 innings. See that’s the beauty with sinkerballers when things are going right — the ball doesn’t leave the yard.
The next season was a tremendous step back for Kintzler, as his 3.24 ERA was overshadowed by a 4.68 FIP as his strikeout and walk rates cratered and the ball left the park at a rate of five times more frequently than the season before. Kintzler was good enough in September that year (0.90 ERA in 10 innings) for the Brewers to bring him back in his first year of arbitration eligibility, but 2015 was a disaster for Kintzler from the get-go.
As Kintzler’s performance was slipping, so too was he on the mound. Kintzler told the Pioneer Press’ Mike Berardino that his issues in 2014 might have been in part due to some issues with his rotator cuff, but he also was dealing with instability in his lower body that was causing him myriad issues — not the least of which was slipping on the mound. That fall Kintzler had surgery to repair his patellar tendon in his left knee, and Kintzler told Berardino he didn’t strengthen it enough to get him ready for the 2015 season. As a result, Kintzler barely pitched for the Brewers that year, and when he did it wasn’t pretty: 6.43 ERA with five walks in seven innings.
With two rough seasons in a row on Kintzler’s ledger, the Brewers opted to go in another direction rather than tender the right-hander for another season of arbitration eligibility. In fact, in going another direction, they opted to sign Blaine Boyer, who had put together a fairly decent season for the Twins last year (2.49 ERA, 4.00 FIP, 1.25 WHIP) and did about the same for the Crew this year (3.95 ERA, 3.97 FIP, 1.47 WHIP).
In this case however, the Brewers’ loss was the Twins’ gain, as Kintzler came into camp ready to claim a job. Results were mixed but mostly positive for Kintzler in spring training — 2.70 ERA in 10 innings, 7-2 K/BB ratio but 12 hits allowed for a 1.40 WHIP — but since he was signed to a minor-league deal, it was going to be an uphill battle for him to claim a bullpen spot, and he was assigned to Triple-A Rochester to get the season underway.
Kintzler pitched mostly seventh and eighth innings with the Red Wings, and in fact had recorded zero saves when the Twins summoned him in early May. Seven of his 10 appearances to that point had been more than an inning, so even then it wasn’t clear that he was going to work late innings with the Twins, let alone land in the closer’s role. Where Kintzler succeeded with the Red Wings wasn’t in limiting contact — opponents actually hit .273 against him down there — but that he was again able to keep the ball on the ground with a 56 percent groundball rate, and as a result Triple-A batters only slugged .345 against him. With just three walks allowed, that meant he was able to keep his OPS against under .700 (.662).
Kintzler wasn’t immediately dropped into late innings with the Twins either but it didn’t take long. The righty worked parts of the fourth and fifth innings in his first game with the team — in relief of an ineffective Ervin Santana — but from that point forward never worked earlier than the seventh inning, and never earlier than the eighth after a couple of weeks. Kintzler’s first save came on June 8 as part of an initial timeshare with Fernando Abad in the closer’s role after Jepsen’s ouster, but that was a platoon in name only as Abad earned just one save — the only one of his career — with the Twins before he was flipped to the Red Sox for Pat Light.
One thing Kintzler struggled with a little bit early that was strange was allowing home runs, as he allowed three in the month before he took over the closer’s role — just a span of 14.2 innings. What made that even more odd was that it came during a time frame in which he carried a 67 percent groundball rate, and considering how often grounders leave the yard — read: never — it was a bit of weird juxtaposition. Nevertheless, Kintzler exhibited phenomenal control, and thus rarely had any spare baserunners when the home runs were hit. In fact, prior to his first save with the Twins, Kintzler had a 2.45 ERA. That is, he allowed three home runs — but just four earned runs total.
No matter how the Twins use Kintzler in 2017 he should be useful, but it’s not clear he’s best suited in the closer’s role moving forward.
Kintzler’s numbers in the closer role more adequately mirror his season numbers — 3.40 ERA in 39.2 innings, 25-7 K/BB ratio and 61 percent groundball rate — but basically speaking, a bit of a rough patch in September made his numbers look a bit worse than they otherwise might have. Opposing batters hit .429/.500/.524 off Kintzler in September — that is, a higher OBP and SLG than the OPS he allowed (.486) the month before — as that added up to a 10.00 ERA that severely put a damper on his final numbers, which were still pretty solid.
The sinker gets a lot of credit for all the grounders Kintzler induces, and it’s for fairly good reason at it induced worm burners at a 63.8 percent rate this season. However, don’t sleep on his slider, which also was above 60 percent (61.5 percent). Kintzler allowed just two home runs after taking on the closer’s role for a total of five, with four coming on his sinker and one on the slider. I don’t have a number for that really, it’s just anecdotal evidence.
Nevertheless, all four of Kintzler’s pitches induced grounders in excess of 50 percent, which makes him plenty valuable in whatever role he’s used in 2017. Fangraphs’ PITCHf/x had Kintzler’s sinker averaging 92.6 mph with a high of 95.9, while Brooks Baseball had an average of 93.4 mph with a peak of 96.3. Either way, that means Kintzler’s peak velocity was not only back (2011 he averaged 96.2 with his sinker) but exceeded. It’s funny what being fully healthy can do, huh?
With such good command (1.3 BB/9 in 2016) and groundball stuff however, it’s worth wondering if closing is the right role for him. Sure, he can get out of jams if he needs to but he lacks the overpowering raw stuff teams usually like to see from their ninth-inning guy. Instead, Kintzler might have more value in the sixth or seventh innings in a good bullpen — something the Twins should be able to have with the emergence of J.T. Chargois, Ryan Pressly and others — where he comes in with one out and a runner on first and can induce an inning-ending double play. Burke Badenhop was used in a similar role for a number of years with the Rays, Brewers and Red Sox before fizzling out with the Reds in 2015.
No matter how the Twins use Kintzler in 2017 he should be useful, but it’s not clear he’s best suited in the closer’s role moving forward.
Grade: A-. The late season fade hurt his overall numbers a bit, but he was quite a find for Ryan this offseason.
