In 2007, Jim Bowden made a mostly-unnoticed move to acquire Tyler Clippard from the Yankees for reliever Jonathan Albaladejo, in what may become the best trade in his time as general manager of the Washington Nationals.
The righty made two spot starts for the Nationals in 2008 before being sent back to Triple-A, where he would toil for the next year as he tried to find a way to make it back to the bottom-dwelling Nationals. As more and more of Washington's minor league pitchers began to rise through the system, many began to leapfrog Clippard for the chance to be featured in the Nationals starting rotation.
In 2009, the Nationals made a decision to change Clippard's role from starter to reliever, desperate for any help they could get out of their major league bullpen. The switch brought new life to Clippard's career. So what changed for Clippard? What makes him so successful? And how does he fit into the Nats' future?
Clippard's last start as a major league pitcher came on Jun. 14th against the Seattle Mariners. He picked up the win in six innings pitched, letting up two runs off of two solo home runs. He struck out two batters and walked three.
Despite the win, the start was a showcase of everything that was wrong with Clippard as a starter. While he made it through the first few innings with little trouble, he started to fall apart the second time through the order.
Batters were picking up on his best pitch, the changeup, because he was releasing it from a different plane than his fastball. He was having trouble spotting his fastball and getting it past hitters. He nibbled too much and was walking batters that he could have finished off.
A switch from starter to reliever would not be enough to fix his problems. He would have to work on his mechanics and change his mentality in order to be successful, but the switch to reliever would at least help some of his problems.
Last year when Clippard switched to a reliever, his WHIP, BB/9, and HR/9 all dropped while his K/9 rose from the seven range to 10.8 in the majors. His fastball picked up some velocity, going from the 89-90 range to the 92-93 range, allowing him to gain more confidence in the pitch. As a result, his contact percentage dropped by more than 10 percent and his swinging-strike percentage rose by 7 percent.
When he got ahead in the count, his fastball became his new out pitch. He began using his curveball less and started employing a slider, gaining enough confidence with the pitch that he was able to throw it when he got behind in the count.
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