Oakland Athletics Blake Treinen: Sleeper reliever in 2018?

Blake Treinen had a roller coaster season in 2017 but turned things around when he was traded to Oakland. Could he be a sleeper RP heading into 2018?

Blake Treinen had quite the season in 2017, as he went from one of the favorites to win the Nationals closer’ job, to then being shipped to the Oakland A’s at the trade deadline. Even though he struggled mightily with the Nats, he came on during the second half for the A’s.

But can fantasy owners believe in the success?

Treinen’s 2.13/13 SV/42 K line over 38 innings of work for the A’s has him once in line again as a favorite for a closer role. The Athletics lack any other clear competition, meaning that Treinen will be one of the many RP possibilities for those who wait toward the end of the draft to select closers.

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In terms of stuff, no one has ever doubted what he brings to the table. His fastball sits in the upper-90s, his slider has a ton of hard late break, and his nasty sinker gave him a full arsenal.

Yet, once given the reigns in Washington, he fell right on his face. The move to Oakland was a godsend in terms of pressure, as he seemed to transition well on a non-contending club. But, fantasy owners will have to dig deeper into his stats to determine if he bounce back was legit.

The first area of concern for Treinen, was that his sinker was highly ineffective and hit to the tune of a .288 AVG. With more and more batters being able to handle velocity in the majors, his location with his sinker was not there, and he paid for it.

He was able to make a slight adjustment by using his slider more in the second half, and he excelled with it. Batters only posted a .186 AVG against the pitch over the second half, and it was clear that he made it his put away pitch as well.

While it was clear that his sinker/fastball were being squared up, and his slider was not, it was interesting to see that his batted ball data actually got worse the second half of the season.

During the first half, he posted 15% LD, 61% GB, 25% FB, 54% Med and 27% hard contact rates.

From July on though, he posted 23% LD, 56% GB, 21% FB, 50% Med, and 31% Hard contact rates.

He found more success in the second half, the move to the Coliseum certainly helps, but he did it on the back of actually getting hit harder.

After taking his batted ball data into account, there is also the fact that the Oakland A’s will be a bad ballclub next season again. They have some thunder in the middle of their order, but lack lineup depth and do not enough starting pitcher to offer plentiful SV chances.

Blake Treinen may have turned things around in the second half, but there is just too many red flags in terms of how hard he was hit. While he still uses fastball and sinker the most, he should have been featuring his slider more from the onset, yet waited too long to make the change. 

Next: Fantasy Baseball 2018: RP more important than ever?

Fantasy owners would be better off looking elsewhere for an RP flier next season.