St. Louis Cardinals: The next left-handed specialist

1. Tyler Lyons

All of the sudden, Tyler Lyons has transitioned from a young pitching prospect into a middling 28-year-old vet who’s future as a big-league starter is beginning to look bleak. You have to love the guy for his attitude, he would probably go out and throw 1o innings of mop-up baseball if you asked him to.

Lyons can be a quality gap-filler in long-relief and spot-start opportunities, but is there a way to give him a chance to take on some higher leverage situations?

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That left-handed specialist job seems to be his best shot, although I’m not sold on his ability to handle impact-bat lefties in pressure cooker at-bats where the Cardinals must have an out.

Against left-handed bats in 2016, Lyons was anything but dominant. His opponent batting average of .232 against lefties wasn’t bad, but not nearly as dominant as you would want in a guy that would face left-handers exclusively with the game on the line.

His opponent on base percentage of .317 against lefties is even more cause for concern. He issued six walks in 63 plate appearances against lefties in 2015 while hitting one of them. He allowed three home runs to left-handed batters, and his 2.67 K/9 rate against lefties is nearly half of the 4.89 K/p he posted against right-handed batters in 2015.

Lyons seems destined to the spot-start/long-relief role moving forward barring a jump in velocity, the development of a put away secondary pitch, or a mechanical change (i.e. dropping his arm slot) to make him more difficult on lefties.

That isn’t to say that re-directing his focus to becoming dominant against lefties couldn’t get him over the hump, just that it doesn’t seem likely based on his numbers of the past and his lack of put away stuff.

Next: The Prospect