The emergence of the bullpen's unsung hero: Chad Green

It seems too cliché to hear “the bullpen is full of unsung heroes”, especially when you have such a dominant and star-powered bullpen as the Yankees do. However, there does appear to be an unsung hero, one who has been arguably been the most consistent and reliable guy all season. That guy would be Chad Green.

Photo Credit: AP

Green was initially acquired in a trade from Detroit for Justin Wilson, and expected to be a young arm that would potentially fit nicely in the back-end of the Yankees future rotation. Once the Yankees began selling off at the deadline last year, Green was given some opportunities to show what he had to offer. While he didn’t do terrible, considering it was his first time up in the majors, he didn’t show much promise either. He struggled going deep into games, only lasting about four innings per start and had an ERA of 4.73. He also struggled with his command at times, and ultimately ended up finishing the season down in Triple-A.

Coming into this year, Green was set to work out of the bullpen.  He was a solid arm to have in the pen, but not too much was really expected out of him. What he ended up doing was taking everyone’s expectations and turning them upside-down.

While the Yankee’s season has been a bit of a roller-coaster, Green has stayed an anchor. He showed that every time he was handed the ball, he could get batters out, no matter what situation he was dropped into. Most notably, when the Yankees went on their June slide, and the bullpen looked atrocious, Green managed to throw 16.2 innings and only gave up four runs and struck out 20. Those numbers alone is what kept the Yankees sinking bullpen afloat through the month of June. Green has averaged around two innings per appearance, and showed that he was a guy that could get the team through a game unscathed. He only got better going in the coming months as well. Since the All-Star break, he has mowed down 32 of the 65 batters he’s faced over 17.2 innings and has an ERA of 1.95. These power numbers should certainly get your name out there in the MLB community, but Green was unfortunately overshadowed by the Yankee’s trade acquisitions of David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle.

Photo Credit: AP

Robertson and Kahnle have rightfully earned the attention that they have been getting of late, but Green’s name shouldn’t be swept under the rug either. Thankfully, the big name trade additions didn’t stop Dellin Betances from telling the New York Post that he considers Green “our biggest weapon." That is very high praise from a guy who most people around the league revere as the best setup guy in the business and a team that has many other big name guys working out of the same bullpen. That praise didn’t seem to go to Green’s head either,  who on Monday night went about his business and did what he’d been doing all season, going  2.2 scoreless innings in relief of Luis Cessa (who ironically was another piece of the trade with Detroit that brought Green over to the Bronx) and struck out half of the batters he faced.

With such a tight race in both the wild card and division, it is certainly nice to know that the Yankees have Chad Green available to help out in any scenario. He’s someone you can trust if the starter doesn’t go past the fourth, or if you need a couple extra innings so you can rest other bullpen arms, or if you find yourself in an extra-inning game. His versatility is endless, and his dominance doesn’t seem to be going anywhere either.

Article by: AJ Welch 

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