It has been well established at this point that the Nationals did not have a good bullpen. They set the record for blown saves and had a rotating cast of characters all season long. Of that group, Orlando Ribalta and Brad Lord were the most reliable. Neither were lights out, but both of them posted sub-4 ERA’s and logged at least 40 appearances.
Ribalta and Lord are unlikely to be star relievers, but they are the type of arms you need to fill out a bullpen. The Nats are trying to build a bullpen filled
with unique arms, and these two are an example of that. Despite both being right handed relievers, they have very different pitching styles and roles.
At 6’7 245 pounds, Ribalta is a towering presence on the mound and comes at hitters with an over the top delivery. His 97 MPH 4-seam fastball has a good combination of velocity and ride. Ribalta’s secondary pitches include a slider he often uses to get ahead of hitters and a fluttering changeup to put guys away.
Ribalta’s calm mound presence allowed him to come through in some big spots for the Nats. He played a role in some of the Nats meltdowns, but most of the time, Ribalta was not the one causing the fire. In fact, he was the one putting them out. Ribalta had a knack for getting out of bases loaded situations, and he earned the trust of Blake Butera.
Overall, Ribalta had a nice breakthrough season, but there is still room for growth. The 28 year old posted a 3.77 ERA and a 3.91 FIP with 42 strikeouts in 43 innings. His 84.6 MPH average exit velocity against and 36.7% chase rate were both elite metrics. However, his strikeout rate of 23.6% and walk rate of 10.1% are both pretty average for a reliever. Right now, Ribalta is a solid 7th inning guy, but if the strikeouts start matching his stuff, the ceiling is higher.
While Ribalta was a high leverage arm, Brad Lord was in a different role. Lord is your classic multi-inning reliever, a role that is becoming more common across the league. With starters not pitching as deep into games, teams need to get creative with how they use their pitchers.
Most of the time, Lord pitched about 2 or 3 innings in his appearances. In his 40 outings this season, Lord threw 83.1 innings. Until about late June, Lord was an absolute weapon in that role. However, he hit a wall after blowing a game against the Phillies in devastating fashion. Lord had a blow up outing against the Pirates shortly after that, and then he went on the IL.
However, Lord had a rock solid finish to the season. After August 1st, Lord had a 3.55 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 25.1 innings. He is not the flashiest reliever in the world, but he is very helpful and can eat innings effectively. Lord was the only Nats reliever who was on the team from start to finish.
We saw this season that Lord is not someone you really want to turn to in save situations. However, he can be a nice piece in a good bullpen. His profile reminds me a lot of Chad Patrick in Milwaukee, who logged 106 innings this year, mostly in a bullpen role.
From a pitch mix standpoint, Lord relies heavily on his 4-seam fastball and sinker. Both pitches have a lot of movement thanks to his sling shot release. His low release point and funky mechanics make him a tricky at bat. Lord is great at doing the dirty work in the bullpen.
Neither Lord nor Ribalta should be your best relievers, but that says more about the state of the rest of the Nats bullpen. Both are useful pieces who should play a role for years to come. Now the priority should be to acquire truly elite arms so those two can pitch in the proper role.
I actually think the Nats have a decent amount of interesting bullpen arms. The depth is in a much better spot than it was a year ago. However, they need to find a true anchor in the back end to tie everything together. If they do that, we will also see the best of guys like Lord and Ribalta.
