Baseball Prospectus

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Plate Discipline

Preseason Long-Term Forecast (Beyond the 2019 Projections)

Comparable Players (Similarity Index 79)

Rank	Score	Name	Year	Run Average	Trend
1	88	Pedro Feliciano	2008	4.05
2	88	Jesse Crain	2013	1.47
3	88	Steve Cishek	2017	2.01
4	88	Nick Masset	2013	0.00	DNP
5	87	Adam Ottavino	2017	5.06
6	87	Fernando Rodney	2008	4.91
7	87	Bobby Jenks	2012	0.00	DNP
8	86	Jeremy Affeldt	2010	4.50
9	85	Jim Kern	1980	5.54
10	84	Mike MacDougal	2008	2.12
11	84	J.P. Howell	2014	2.57
12	83	Wade Davis	2017	2.45
13	83	Scot Shields	2007	4.32
14	83	Francisco Rodriguez	2013	2.70
15	82	Darren O'Day	2014	1.83
16	82	Jason Frasor	2009	2.65
17	82	Greg McMichael	1998	5.16
18	82	Joakim Soria	2015	2.66
19	82	Kevin Gregg	2009	4.98
20	82	Tony Watson	2016	3.33
21	82	Sparky Lyle	1976	2.86
22	82	John Grabow	2010	8.42
23	81	Ramon Ramirez	2013	12.71
24	81	Jeff Fassero	1994	3.50
25	81	Joe Nathan	2006	1.58
26	81	Sean Marshall	2014	9.00
27	81	Jeff Montgomery	1993	2.27
28	81	Bruce Sutter	1984	1.98
29	81	Brad Brach	2017	3.57
30	80	Sean Burnett	2014	13.50
31	80	Norm Charlton	1994	0.00	DNP
32	80	Scott Williamson	2007	5.02
33	80	Brett Cecil	2018	7.44
34	80	Tippy Martinez	1981	3.36
35	80	Jason Isringhausen	2004	3.23
36	80	Juan Rincon	2010	4.50
37	80	Nate Jones	2017	2.31
38	80	Chad Qualls	2010	8.54
39	80	Kevin Jepsen	2016	6.34
40	79	Jake McGee	2018	6.66
41	79	Ryan Madson	2012	0.00	DNP
42	79	Gary Lavelle	1980	3.96
43	79	A.J. Ramos	2018	6.41
44	79	Casey Janssen	2013	2.91
45	79	Jake Diekman	2018	5.40
46	79	Paul Shuey	2002	3.84
47	78	Jeff Nelson	1998	4.02
48	78	Damaso Marte	2006	4.63
49	78	B.J. Ryan	2007	14.54
50	78	John Franco	1992	1.64
51	78	Michael Wuertz	2010	4.76
52	77	Matt Guerrier	2010	3.55
53	77	Gene Garber	1979	5.60
54	77	Luke Gregerson	2015	3.54
55	77	Heath Bell	2009	2.71
56	76	Will Ohman	2009	5.84
57	76	Doug Corbett	1984	2.33
58	76	Aaron Heilman	2010	4.50
59	76	Peter Moylan	2010	3.39
60	76	Dennys Reyes	2008	2.33
61	76	Nick Vincent	2018	4.47
62	76	Joe Page	1949	3.01
63	76	Brian Fuentes	2007	3.82
64	76	Darren Holmes	1997	5.84
65	76	Jonathan Broxton	2015	4.77
66	76	Steve Karsay	2003	0.00	DNP
67	76	Santiago Casilla	2012	3.41
68	76	Matt Bush	2017	5.16
69	76	Al Holland	1984	3.48
70	76	Brendan Donnelly	2003	1.70
71	76	David Hernandez	2016	3.84
72	76	J.J. Putz	2008	3.88
73	75	Ryan Dempster	2008	3.27
74	75	Willie Hernandez	1986	3.65
75	75	Daniel Hudson	2018	4.89
76	75	Pedro Strop	2016	3.04
77	75	Frank Francisco	2011	3.73
78	75	Scott Linebrink	2008	3.88
79	75	David Phelps	2018	0.00	DNP
80	75	Joaquin Benoit	2009	0.00	DNP
81	75	Will Harris	2016	2.39
82	75	Francisco Cordero	2006	3.82
83	75	Lindy McDaniel	1967	4.21
84	75	Jon Rauch	2010	3.12
85	75	Jose Valverde	2009	2.50
86	75	Danny Farquhar	2018	5.63
87	74	Mike Timlin	1997	3.72
88	74	Chad Bradford	2006	3.34
89	74	Jason Motte	2013	0.00	DNP
90	74	Jason Christiansen	2001	3.22
91	74	Kyle Farnsworth	2007	5.25
92	74	Tommy Hunter	2018	3.94
93	74	Andrew Miller	2016	1.57
94	74	Jonathan Papelbon	2012	2.83
95	74	Rafael Perez	2013	0.00	DNP
96	74	Dan Jennings	2018	3.78
97	74	Joel Hanrahan	2013	9.82
98	74	Jim Mecir	2001	3.57
99	73	Eric O'Flaherty	2016	7.85
100	73	Jesse Orosco	1988	3.06

BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2018		What if we told you the White Sox had claimed a 26-year-old Triple-A right-handed reliever off waivers whose repertoire consisted of spamming a mid-80s splitter? What if we told you this pitcher would then strike out 149 batters over 139 innings with an ERA of 2.71 across the next few seasons? Well, it’s true, and that’s Putnam. Unfortunately, whether you believe it or not, Tommy John surgery meant a second straight season cut short by injury, and his durability is now a serious question.
2017		Zach Putnam missed yet another half-season, this time due to bone spurs. The good news for this split-finger reliever is that, according to his punch card, his next elbow operation is 50 percent off.
2016		Putnam doesn't throw overwhelmingly hard, but since arriving on the South Side in early 2014 he's gone to extremely heavy splitter usage, and batters haven't solved that pitch yet. In 2015, he threw the splitter over 63 percent of the time, and nearly a quarter of those offerings (not just the ones batters swung at) resulted in swings and misses. There's nothing else he does especially well, but if he can even maintain this skill he's a good middle reliever.
2015		In a season that could have been the sweeps-week episode of When Buildings Collapse, this minor-league free agent stood out for sturdiness. Putnam used a heavy splitter to generate groundballs, and while lefties hit him hard, he was tougher on righties than Dellin Betances. Even the .260 BABIP can regress a good long way before he stops being useful, assuming health: Putnam has been plagued by arm injuries for much of his career, having missed time in 2012 and 2013 with elbow trouble and in 2014 with shoulder inflammation.
2014		Bone spurs resulting in August elbow surgery cut short Zach Putnam’s season, but his sinker/splitter combo generates enough strikeouts and groundballs to work in a bullpen.
2013		Putnam, Cleveland's fifth-round pick in 2008, went to the Rockies in a January 2012 trade for Kevin Slowey. He started strong but struggled to throw strikes from June to season's end, walking 21 batters over his final 40 1/3 innings at Triple-A. He works with a low-90s fastball and a splitter that generates grounders. The University of Michigan product made a few starts earlier in his career but has spent the last two seasons working exclusively out of the bullpen, which is where his future lies. The Cubs picked him up on waivers in early November, then promptly non-tendered him.
2012		Taking a big step forward in his first full season at Triple-A, Putnam will compete for a spot in Cleveland's bullpen this spring and should be a mainstay for years to come. Already possessing a true knockout pitch in a brutal splitter that drops off the table, Putnam changed the grip on his slider this season to give him a second big-league-quality off-speed pitch. That slider complements a 92-93 mph fastball that touches 96. Putnam also improved his fastball command last season and has little left to learn in the minors. An athletic player who could have been drafted as a hitter, Putnam bounced between the rotation and bullpen before finally settling into a relief role in 2011. Shoulder issues hampered his effectiveness in the middle of the season, but he bounced back well and should be fine.
2011		When Putnam was a high-school star in Michigan, he was generally seen as one of the top players in the country. His stock slipped after three years at his home state's university, and while he'll never be a star, he should at least provide some relief help. His 92-94 mph fastball played better out of the pen, and he pounds the strike zone with it before throwing hitters off-balance with an average slider and an impressive split/change that produces some ugly swings. Putnam's ceiling is that of a seventh- or eighth-inning arm, but he's close to being ready.
2010		The Tribe's bullpen woes created some panic down below, as they briefly converted Zach Putnam to relief work in 2009; he'll be back to starting at Double-A, and has the stuff to fit in the back end of a good rotation.

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PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

A Collaboration between BrooksBaseball.net and Baseball Prospectus - Pitch classifications provided by Pitch Info LLC

Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2024, Zach Putnam threw 2,551 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2011 and 2017, all of them occuring in Spring Training. In 2017, he relied primarily on his Splitter (84mph) and Fourseam Fastball (91mph), also mixing in a Cutter (91mph). He also rarely threw a Slider (90mph).