For seven seasons with the Reds, right-hander Michael Lorenzen was utilized in rather unique fashion. The 29-year-old former No. 38 overall pick started 21 games as a rookie before settling in as a reliever. He also spent 96 innings in the outfield, 81 of them in center, and even played a handful of complete games as a center fielder down the stretch in 2019. He’s not Shohei Ohtani, but Lorenzen’s .233/.282/.429 batting line and seven career home runs in 147 plate appearances make him one of the game’s most productive pitchers with a bat in his hands.
At various points in his career, Lorenzen was set to audition for another opportunity in the Cincinnati rotation, but Spring Training injuries intervened. Now, as he sets out into the free-agent market, the 29-year-old righty hopes to sign with a club that will give him the chance to compete for a spot in the starting rotation, writes Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The 2021 season was a rough one for Lorenzen, who sustained a shoulder strain in Spring Training at a time when the Reds were planning to give him another chance at starting. As the right-hander explains to Nightengale, he suffered a Grade 3 hamstring strain while fielding a bunt against the Pirates on Aug. 8 — not long after returning from the shoulder injury. Rather than go on the injured list, Lorenzen somehow found a way to pitch through the injury down the stretch. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t a productive run, but with so many injuries elsewhere in the Cincinnati ’pen, Lorenzen gutted things out.
A look at Lorenzen’s 2021 numbers won’t generate much excitement. The right-hander finished out the year with a 5.59 ERA, a 16.8 percent strikeout rate, an 11.2 percent walk rate and a 44.8 percent grounder rate. The ERA is rather heavily skewed by Lorenzen’s final two appearances of the season, during which he yielded a combined eight runs in just 1 2/3 frames. Prior to that, he’d worked to a solid 3.62 ERA with an 18.9 percent strikeout rate and a 9.0 percent walk rate. Given that he was never (or only briefly) at full strength, it was a rather impressive showing up until that final pair of games.
Lorenzen figures to draw interest in a variety of roles, and plenty of teams will surely be more keen on plugging him into the bullpen than giving him a legitimate chance to start. From 2016-20, Lorenzen racked up 331 innings out of the Cincinnati bullpen and pitched to a cumulative 3.48 ERA with a 21.6 percent strikeout rate, nine percent walk rate and 44.8 percent ground-ball rate. He missed the first two and a half months of the ’16 season with an elbow strain and missed six weeks in ’18 with a shoulder strain, but Lorenzen still averaged 66 2/3 innings per season — and that’s including last year’s shortened schedule.
Given his track record in the ’pen, one would imagine that Lorenzen’s most-lucrative offers will be to pitch in relief next season. The right-hander tells Nightengale, however, that he’s “willing to bet on [himself]” in free agency this winter if the right situation comes along. Presumably, any starting opportunities would be on a low-cost deal with a fair bit of incentives — perhaps some based both on starting and relieving.
This year’s injury-marred results notwithstanding, Lorenzen has a strong track record in the bullpen, as many as six different pitches (headlined by a heater that averaged 96.9 mph in 2021), an excellent bat relative to other pitchers, and strong defensive skills in the outfield. Statcast pegged him in the 95th percentile in terms of sprint speed in 2017, and his 28.8 ft/sec speed in 2019 tied him for 68th among 564 big league position players. Beyond the raw speed, Statcast pegs him at +2 Outs Above Average as an outfielder, while Defensive Runs Saved has him at +1 in those 96 career innings. A rough 2021 showing will probably keep the price down, but he’ll be one of the more interesting buy-low options on the offseason market, regardless of what role he lands.
Sounds like a Rangers kind of move.
Them or Cubs.
Agree. He’s the type of pitcher the Cubs will look at.
He fits the profile of a low risk, moderate reward.
Giants bought low on 2 Reds pitchers last off-season and it worked well. Why not try another?
I always liked Lorenzen, he is totally a guy the Cubs should look into and let him battle for a rotation spot.
Which is why they are the Rangers, year in and year out. I know Preller, Sandy, and Mozeliak are the preferred whipping boys around here, but I think Jon Daniels is another one that has worn out his welcome. Not saying dude is incompetent or anything, but talk about a stale franchise.
Spot on.
Double spot on, really. Not taking advantage of the new park (and yes, 2020 wasn’t their fault) was almost criminal. They should have signed every marginal veteran they could last winter, and try to win 10 more games or so. As it was, it was just awful, and might have set fan interest back several years.
Rangers haven’t had a winning season since 2016. Did they do a big tear down that I didn’t hear about?
With the universal DH on the horizon good hitting pitchers will not be as important unless they are good enough to be considered for DH. But apparently he is a decent fielder which is a positive. On the other hand, he appears to have a significant injury history. Probably not a bad pick up for a number 26 though.
Are good hitting pitchers important now? Last time I checked no pitcher ever made an all-star game because his bat
Good hitting pitchers pitch deeper into games, takes some pressure off the everyday hitters, and can win games for themselves. Last time I checked, that makes them more valuable to their team than a similar pitcher who can’t hit.
So you think only making an All Star Game is important? Ridiculous. If your pitcher is hitting .250 with homer power and your opponent’s pitcher is hitting .048 with a 75% strikeout rate, you would have a huge advantage in the game. At least in the early stages.
Let me know when a team pays a pitcher $1 more for his bat than they would have otherwise.
Ohtani?
I agree I highly doubt any team is considering paying anymore but if you view two pitchers about the same it would silly not to consider a guy who can hit a bit the more valuable guy how slightly it is.
Guys like him become more valuable with less roster spots but the game is going in the opposite direction.
My overall point is the slight difference between those two pitchers that make them “about the same” is more significant than whatever they provide at the plate.
Midwits like hiflew can’t get over their tism to understand that
It depends on how you define slight difference. All things being equal a good hitting pitcher is much more valuable than a poor hitting pitcher.
I disagree. Zambrano and Mad Bum are two pitchers who hit nearly 0.250 and were praised for this skill. Both also received bigger paychecks because they racked up more wins because they could handle the bat. So yeah, they got paid more because they had more wins because they could hit.
Steve Nebraska isn’t a midwit the same as a half wit?
Ohtani? He is an exception but he is a pitcher who made the all star team partially due to his bat…
I believe Drysdale lead the team in BA one year. If not lead, damn close.h hit over 300 and had over 125 at bats with 7 homers.
His FB is straight as an arrow…..
Minnesota Twins please give him a call.
No better opportunity to be guaranteed 30 starts than in Baltimore.
30 starts??? Opening Day starter…..boblehead on April 2. 2022. Own TV show on MASN.
You need two of this kind of guy, one lefty one righty. Then have the two of them switch back and forth between the mound and RF, depending on who’s up. Heck you could do that for a whole game if both are pitching well.
3 batter minimum kind of ruins that idea.
Would the 3 batter minimum rule apply? Players can shift every batter, so why couldn’t the RF and the pitcher shift places. There is nothing in the rule about 3 CONSECUTIVE batters. So as long as both pitchers faced a total of 3 batters each or finished an inning, you are obeying the rule.
I’m not sure how that would affect a batting order with the DH though.
Yeah I think this is correct. The three batter rule would not apply. But it’s also possible the two pitchers would not get any warm-up pitches when they rotate back in. It’s the sort of thing that would work for one season until MLB gets around to banning it.
If we are going to live in a bit of a fantasy world, it would be ideal if they were infielders, maybe SS’s, they typically have good arms.
Michael Lorenzen would be a high impact player considering what they have signed since 2017. Very few impact players signed so Lorenzen would be right up there.
Meaning the Cubs
May L.A Dodgers would be interested in him and place him as their 5th starter for 2022. He would replace David Price/Bullpen games, plus Lorenzen would be coming home to SoCal. He would be a solid 5th starter and maybe down the road replace Jansen as a closer. Just saying.
Not sure he is such a solid starter. And Price will still be paid 18 million in 22 (by the Dodgers). But he might be a valuable bull pen addition/emergency outfielder.
Meaning the Cubs of course
I wouldn’t object to the Rangers signing him. At best you get a three or four starter at worse a long or middle reliever, so why not?
I like the dude, and he has some talent, but he was always more novelty than useful player. Not a good enough hitter to be more than a late inning defensive replacement/pinch runner, and has NEVER shown any consistency on the mound regardless the role. I think he stays in Cincy because Bob castellini is an idiot who thinks a fan favorite is more valuable than talent
That’s probably why the Reds locked up Votto for a hundred years, joeshmoe11.
They are, to the bottom line.
I’d suggest the Pirates, but Lorenzen might actually cost money.
Honestly the best place for him would be to sign with California Angels
Angels need better pitching.. so, yeah no.
Now watch the Dodgers turn him into a bootleg Ohtani.
Teams may give him a look as a starter in spring training but he’ll end up in the bullpen.
He’ll be a Giant. Farhan’s next project.
Angels. We love bounce back candidate pitchers.
There’s a few other teams that do, too. I’d rather not see another experiment in Anaheim…
Maybe spend more time perfecting your craft then instead of making your biceps bigger. Can’t even consistently pitch a couple innings well, why would we want you to be a starter?
What about Tampa Bay for Lorenzen?
Pirates sound like a low risk spot
Good pitcher with great stuff, and the bat works too. Needs to get out of Cincy/Great American…
Giants will turn him into a Cy Young candidate next year
Great spot for the Blue Jays or Yankees.
Would be a nice pickup for the Orioles. They do have some spending money now.
Bye bye this guy was terrible and always hurt.
Angels and let lorenzen have the DJ spot the days ohtani starts?
Tigers need both a starting pitcher and a CF.
He’s not that good at either, but that club-owner might relish hiring this man at a low wage and count him as 2 on the Detroit roster.
Assuming you’re trying to be funny. Key word is “trying”. Tigers have Baddoo, Cameron, Hill, and Reyes all capable in CF with Goodrum and Harold Castro also having played there. Riley Greene is at AAA hitting the cover off the ball and he is better at defensive than offense. Teams in need of a CF should be coming to Detroit. They got extra.
Appears you’re trying to be savvy.
None of them can play CF either well or yet. Riley Greene is a future applicant. Meanwhile Chris I cuts corners and coupons.
Subtlety not your strong suit.
doesnt hurt to try any of them there
I like the talent, would love to see him in Philly, but I dont think he’s good enough to start, and the injury concerns dont help.
I feel like it would be the most Cincinnati thing to do to not give him a legitimate chance as a starter for 7 years, but then sign him as a starter/free agent because we traded Sonny Gray to say save cash
The former Cal State Fullerton pitcher will end up in Anaheim as either the 6th starting pitcher and 5th OFer and/or DH days Ohtani needs a rest. If that does not work out he will come out of the pen.
1 yr $5 million.
Spot on! Nice call
Rays type of pickup forsure.
With all the young pitching in KC, I could see him coming in to get a chance to start, bullpen, and even DH once in a while. Gotta be better than O’Hearn. Plus he’s a character guy, and Dayton Moore loves those.
Could get a call from the Detroit Tigers or KC Royals.