http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-astros-have-a-new-weapon-and-a-decision/ Feliz’s numbers, on the whole, are impressive, and even they come with something of an asterisk. In 20 innings of relief work, the 22-year-old right-handed rookie has struck out 33 batters and walked four — only two pitchers in baseball currently have a better K-BB%, and they both wear pinstripes. You’ve probably heard of them. The asterisk is that Feliz has walked just four batters all year, and they all came in his season debut, a 107-pitch relief outing back on April 6 after starter Collin McHugh recorded just one out. Feliz was thrust into action in the first, asked to eat innings, faltered, and was promptly sent to the minors for a fresh arm. He was recalled a couple weeks later, and since then, he’s been completely unhittable. ... Take every pitcher with at least 100 sliders thrown this year, and sort them by swing-and-miss rate. Feliz shows up fourth, right behind Andrew Miller and right ahead of Corey Kluber. Feliz has thrown 102 sliders, gotten 40 swings, and on more than half of those swings, the hitter’s come up empty. Nobody’s gotten a hit off it in more than a month. It’s worth pointing out, too, that on that same slider whiff rate leaderboard where Feliz is fourth, Feliz’s teammates, Luke Gregerson and Ken Giles, are one and two. As far as the slider goes, Feliz shows up to work surrounded by good company. ... Feliz has been dominant out of the pen and it is nice to see someone notice outside of Houston. Not sure if he'll ever be a starter, but he's going to be a good pitcher regardless of when he's on the mound. See the link for the full article.
Also worth noting that Ken Giles needs to focus on Fastball Location. Micheal Feliz is what we thought we were getting with Giles. We potentially have the best bullpen in team history on our hands. Wagner-Giles Dotel-Harris Lidge -Feliz
I've been very impressed by Feliz thus far. Hope Hinch will continue to put him in situations where he can succeed. I'd like to see him stretched out into a starter, but that looks like a long-term project. He has the stuff to be a dominant 7th inning guy, a la Lidge when we had Lidge-Dotel-Kid
As much as that bullpen gets lauded around here... it should be noted that it was only a triumeverent for just one season (a season that featured a late-season collapse and had them missing the playoffs). What they have now can exceed that both in terms of quality and longevity.
It did... along with Roy and his injured groin, Munro, and Kirk Saarloos. One thing Jimy Williams could most certainly do... was cultivate a functional bullpen.
