Phillies: Seranthony Dominguez becoming team’s best high-leverage arm
By John Town
Since being promoted to the majors, Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez has become the team’s best high-leverage reliever.
As a whole, the Phillies bullpen has been somewhere in the middle of the pack of the league. They rank ninth in ERA, 13th in fielding-independent pitching, 21st in strikeout-to-walk ratio, 13th in WHIP, and 19th in collective wins above replacement. Some players struggled, but others have taken a major step forward. None have been quite as surprising as rookie Seranthony Dominguez.
Dominguez spent last year in High-A Clearwater, making 13 starts and two relief appearances. He had a 3.61 ERA and 28.9 percent strikeout rate. However, he struggled with his command, walking 30 batters in 62.1 innings.
The team saw the potential for Dominguez to be a reliever with his dominating stuff, so they moved him to the bullpen this year. The move proved to be a good one as he allowed just three earned runs in 16.2 innings of relief between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
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After making just three appearances in Triple-A, Dominguez was called up to the majors. Less than a year after pitching in High-A, Dominguez had reached the biggest stage. Since debuting, Dominguez has been great.
Dominguez has not allowed a run in eight major-league appearances so far. He has not walked a single batter and surrendered just one hit. His pitches have been nasty, with a sinker that runs into the high 90s and a wipeout slider.
Dominguez has generated a 16.2 percent swinging strike rate thanks to these dominant pitches.
What has been especially impressive about Dominguez is the fact that he has been in so many high-leverage situations early in his career. Manager Gabe Kapler has not been afraid to throw Dominguez into tough spots despite his inexperience.
A perfect example of this came Wednesday night against the Braves. Jake Arrieta allowed runners to second and third with two outs, so Kapler brought in Dominguez to put out the fire. He did just that, battling back from a 3-1 count against Preston Tucker to strike him out and end the inning. It was the closest Atlanta came to winning the game as the Phillies cruised to a 4-0 victory.
Dominguez has faced eight batters in high-leverage situations and has done a great job keeping opposing teams at bay. He has three strikeouts and forced an out every single time. It is still early, but he has shown major prowess in this area.
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After the game, Arrieta said that Dominguez simply isn’t scared of anything on the mound: [quote via Aaron Kasinitz of Penn Live]
"“Well, he’s got no fear,” Arrieta said. “He’s almost got a blank stare on his face. There’s no emotion, whether things are going well or poorly. I don’t think we’ve seen him pitch poorly. It’s sinking and cutting in the high-90s — from 99 to 97 to 100 miles an hour — so he’s going to get a lot of people in trouble.”"
Dominguez has become the team’s best reliever since being called up. While this usually would lead to him being the closer, but that isn’t the case.
Kapler would rather have Dominguez fill the “fireman” role where he comes into the game whenever the lead is in danger, like what happened in the seventh inning against the Braves Wednesday. This role is arguably more valuable than the closer, so having your potentially best reliever in that role makes far more sense.
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It’s safe to say Dominguez has become one of the team’s best high-leverage relief arms. Expect to see him more and more in tight spots the rest of the season as Kapler grows even more comfortable with him.