When a team is mired in a rut of three losing seasons, it’s easy to overlook players who are achieving beyond expectations – especially when those players are relief pitchers. After all, who cares if you have a lights out right hander when the team is constantly down 6-0 by the third inning? For that reason, you could be forgiven if you’ve missed what Casey Fien has been doing over the past three years with the Twins.

 

Since the Twins signed Fien as a minor league free agent from the Detroit Tigers organization, he’s developed into one of the better relief pitchers in baseball. So far in 2014, Fien is posting career best numbers.The 6’2" righty currently boasts a 3-1 record with a 1.89 ERA and 13:4 strikeout to walk ratio. His strong start helped him take over the 8th inning role from Jarod Burton in early April and he’s kept the role absolutely locked down through sheer dominant performances all season.

 

Fien has only allowed an earned run in 2 of his 20 outings (oddly enough, both against Cleveland) and has rarely even yielded a hit in each appearance.Take a look at his game logs from 2014:

[TABLE]

Date

Opp

Rslt

Dec

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

HBP

ERA

Mar31

CHW

L3-5

[/TD]

0.2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.00

Apr2

CHW

L6-7

H(1)

1.0

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

0.00

Apr4

CLE

L2-7

1.0

3

3

3

0

0

0

0

10.12

Apr6

CLE

W10-7

H(2)

1.0

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

7.36

Apr10

OAK

L1-6

1.0

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

5.79

Apr13

KCR

W4-3

W(1-0)

0.1

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

5.40

Apr17(2)

TOR

W9-5

W(2-0)

1.0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

4.50

Apr20

KCR

W8-3

0.2

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

4.05

Apr23

TBR

W6-4

W(3-0)

2.1

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

3.00

Apr25

DET

L6-10

1.0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2.70

May

Opp

Rslt

Dec

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

HBP

ERA

May1(2)

LAD

L3-4

1.0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

2.45

May3

BAL

W6-1

1.0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

2.25

May4

BAL

W5-2

H(3)

1.0

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

2.08

May7

CLE

L3-4

L(3-1)

0.2

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

2.63

May9

DET

W2-1

H(4)

1.0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2.45

May11

DET

W4-3

H(5)

0.2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

2.35

May15

BOS

W4-3

H(6)

1.0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2.20

May16

SEA

W5-4

H(7)

0.2

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

2.12

May20

SDP

W5-3

H(8)

1.0

0

0

0

1

2

0

0

2.00

May21

SDP

W2-0

H(9)

1.0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.89

19.0

12

4

4

4

13

1.89

[/TABLE]

 

　

That’s a lot of zeroes.

 

Fien is currently 12^th in WAR among AL relievers (0.6) and ranks 17th BABIP (.222), 16^th in BB/9 (1.89), and 16^th in FIP (.233). Those rankings become even more impressive once you factor in most of the players ahead of Fien are other team’s closers (Glen Perkins, Greg Holland, Koji Uehara – etc.) In short, outside of the true elite bullpen arms (I.E. closers) there are not many relievers pitching better than Fien in 2014.

 

Of course, whenever a player is having a career year, the talk always turns to regression. How soon will the player "return" to his career averages and how far will the "fall" be? Thankfully Fien’s overall numbers show that if he does experience any regression this season, it might not be that dramatic. Take a look at his numbers since joining the Twins ‘pen:

 

[TABLE]

Year

[TD=width: 25%]K%

[TD=width: 25%]BB%

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]BABIP

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]2012

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]22.7%

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]7.5%

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%].229

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]2013

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]29.9%

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]4.9%

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%].280

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]2014

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]18.3%

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%]5.6%

[/TD]

[TD=width: 25%].222

[/TD]

[/TABLE]

Essentially, Fien’s advanced numbers all point towards one thing: consistency. Even if Fien’s early season hot streak cools, he’s still a high strikeout, low walk reliever who should continue to excel in late game situations.

 

The question then turns to what the Twins should do with Fien going forward. He’ll be arbitration eligible in 2015, and is under team control through 2019. He’s 31 years old, so the Twins should be cautious about locking him into a long term deal – especially given how volatile relievers can be (See: Valverde, Jose) but he’s clearly providing value for the team in the short term. He could be a potential trade asset for the team if they fall out of contention before the trade deadline* or the team could simply choose to retain Fien and enjoy the quality arm out of the bullpen.

 

*(As an aside: Do you know how nice it was to type "IF they fall out of contention by the deadline" and really mean IF – winning baseball is fun. We should do it more often.)

 

Casey Fien has always been one of my favorite players for the Twins. His enthusiasm and fire on the mound is a blast to watch. This season he’s become the very definition of a "bulldog" out of the ‘pen for the Twins and is one of the few Twins pitchers who is not afraid to attack hitters and pound the strike zone with scorching fastballs. Fien has elevated his game to a new level this season – whether he can maintain this strong start remains to be seen, but either way the Twins (and Twins fans) have to be enjoying the fantastic output from Casey Fien so far.