40-year old Fernando Rodney hasn’t been known for his consistency for quite some time, but his performances this season with the Arizona Diamondbacks are setting a new trend in his inability to do anything mediocre: Either horrendous or sublime.
Through 36 performances, including 30 games as the closer and 22 saves, Rodney has a 5.23 ERA in 32.2 innings. He’s striking 10.2 batters per 9 innings and his 2.06 K/BB ratio is pretty much the one he’s been providing throughout his career (2.01), which began way back in 2002 with the Detroit Tigers.
But the 5.23 ERA doesn’t tell the story of his rollercoaster pitching. Rodney doesn’t have a month this season with an ERA between 0.01 and 11.25.
In April, Rodney pitched in 11 games (10.2 innings) and had an awful ERA of 12.60, giving up 14 earned runs. In May, Rodney played in 10 games (9.2 innings). This time he didn’t give up a single run, and his 0.00 ERA came along with an 0.069 batting average against him.
The same of that in June. Rodney pitched in 9 games (9.0 innings), not allowing a single earned run, another 0.00 ERA. He didn’t even allow a single hit during the month. His one slip up was allowing a couple of walks, good enough for an OBP of 0.071.
But July provided the Rodney of April. Through 6 games and 4 innings, Rodney has given up 5 runs and has an ERA of 11.25.
In short, if Rodney gives up a run in his first game of the month, the team should shut him down for the remainder of that month. If he does well in that game, they’re good to go, knowing he’ll handle whatever comes his way.