TODAY: Boyer will earn $975K if he makes the MLB roster, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets.
YESTERDAY: The Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Blaine Boyer, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com (Twitter link). Bowman notes that the Aegis Sports client will have a good chance to make the Atlanta bullpen.
The 35-year-old Boyer was originally drafted by the Braves back in 2000 and spent the first five seasons of his career in Atlanta. After a two-year absence from the Majors from 2012-13, during which Boyer has previously said he believed his career to be over, the right-hander returned to MLB on a minors pact with the Padres. Since that time, he’s posted a very strong 3.31 ERA in 171 1/3 innings with the Padres, Twins and Brewers.
Most recently, Boyer tossed 66 innings for the 2016 Brewers, posting a 3.95 earned run average with 3.5 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent ground-ball rate. That K/9 rate stands out as the likely reason that Boyer has continually had to settle for minor league deals in recent years. Boyer misses fewer bats than just about any reliever in the game — he’s averaged just 4.6 K/9 since returning the bigs — but demonstrates strong control and induces plenty of weak contact, which helps his cause.
Fangraphs’ Travis Sawchik recently penned a fascinating look at Boyer in an attempt to determine how he’s been able to succeed despite that lack of strikeouts. Sawchik observes that Boyer allowed the fewest number of barreled balls to opponents in 2016. Beyond that, opponents averaged a feeble 86.2 mph exit velocity against Boyer, which was the 11th-lowest mark in baseball. Sawchik likened Boyer’s knack for inducing consistent weak contact to that of Mark Buehrle, another low-strikeout arm that thrived for more than a decade despite his own lack of missed bats. Braves fans are encouraged to check out the piece in its entirety, as it’s a thorough look at one of the game’s more unique skill sets.
I like it.
Not very exciting, but shouldn’t be too shabby
Hope he is better this time around. I had enough of him, Wickman, and Campillo among others
No thanks. Minor league depth at best
ehh Minors deal. If he sucks in ST they cut him.
Alright, great pickup
Nice! I hope he ends up making the team. I remember watching him (back when my cable package had TBS lol) when he first came up.
To be honest, as much as I love for players to succeed, I’d rather Boyer have a decent spring, but not make the team because so many others are still pitching better for the Braves bullpen than he did. If he pitches well, they’d probably just deal him to someone else that needs bullpen depth.
I wish Sawchik was still on the Pirates beat.
Newspaper reporters leaving for more money to become bloggers. Even a few years ago that was unthinkable.
I wonder the details
Base- incentives- opt outs?
Should be interesting
My guess
$1m base
$350k in incentives
04/01 opt out
This dude has two years with a 40.00 era
In fairness, one of those 40.00 ERAs was for his Braves appearances only. Overall in 2009, his ERA was 4.12. And in 2006 he only threw 0.2 innings before having surgery
Is Blaine Boyer related to Ken, Clete, or even Charles?
Atlanta sure is leaning on the aging players this season, first dickey and colon…. who’s next? Bring Jamie Moyer back out of retirement? Lol
Atlanta is leaning heavy on the aging plays this year. First Dickey then colon, who’s next bring Jamie Moyer out of retirement? Lol
Braves sure are leaning heavy on the aging players this season, first RA then bartolo… who’s next, bring Jamie Moyer back out of retirement?