2015 St. Louis Cardinals Season Review: Top Performers

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4. Trevor Rosenthal

This season was a great improvement for the flame throwing Rosenthal. Rosenthal finished the year 2-4, with an ERA of 2.10 (career low), and 48 saves in just his second full season as the closer. The biggest improvement for Rosenthal in the ninth this year was the walks, Rosenthal struggled with 5.37 walks per nine innings last season in his first full season as the closer. This season was a huge improvement as his walk rate was 3.29, it still could use some improvement, but Rosenthal definitely improved a big issue from last season.

The only concern I have for Rosenthal is the batting average he allowed to hitters of .238. Looking at that alone, it is not a bad number, but the concern is that this number has increased in each of the last three seasons. This could be seen as a luck thing as hitters did see an increase in BABIP this season from .318 last season to .337 this season. Regardless, it is probably nothing to worry about as Rosenthal’s SIERA was at a career low of 2.68 (according to Fangraphs) this season and it has decreased the past two seasons.

With the emergence of an effective Kevin Siegrist this season and the addition of Jordan Walden and Sam Tuivailala next season. This bullpen could be pretty good next season.