Baseball Prospectus

MLB Statistics

Statistics for All Levels

Plate Discipline

Preseason Long-Term Forecast (Beyond the 2019 Projections)

Comparable Players (Similarity Index 68)

Rank	Score	Name	Year	Run Average	Trend
1	89	Cody Allen	2016	3.04
2	81	Ken Giles	2018	5.01
3	77	Jordan Walden	2015	0.87
4	76	Armando Benitez	2000	2.84
5	76	Carter Capps	2018	0.00	DNP
6	76	Jonathan Broxton	2011	7.11
7	76	Hong-Chih Kuo	2009	3.00
8	75	Kenley Jansen	2015	2.41
9	74	Randy Myers	1990	2.49
10	73	Ugueth Urbina	2001	3.92
11	73	Aroldis Chapman	2015	1.76
12	73	Rex Brothers	2015	1.74
13	73	Addison Reed	2016	2.20
14	72	Trevor Rosenthal	2017	3.78
15	72	Kyle Barraclough	2017	3.41
16	72	Chasen Shreve	2018	4.61
17	72	Bryan Harvey	1990	3.36
18	71	Antonio Bastardo	2013	2.53
19	71	Kevin Siegrist	2017	4.81
20	71	Louis Coleman	2013	0.61
21	70	John Rocker	2002	7.03
22	70	John Wetteland	1994	3.11
23	70	Tony Sipp	2011	3.18
24	69	Arodys Vizcaino	2018	2.11
25	69	Sean Doolittle	2014	2.73
26	69	Jake McGee	2014	1.89
27	69	Bruce Rondon	2018	9.10
28	69	Huston Street	2011	4.32
29	69	Greg Holland	2013	1.48
30	68	Jose Valverde	2005	2.58
31	68	Mark Clear	1983	6.75
32	68	Luke Gregerson	2011	3.72
33	68	Bob James	1986	5.55
34	68	Mark Wohlers	1997	3.76
35	68	Steve Bedrosian	1985	4.40
36	68	Sergio Santos	2011	3.55
37	68	Francisco Rodriguez	2009	4.50
38	68	Billy Wagner	1999	1.69
39	68	Frank Dipino	1984	3.82
40	68	Vinnie Pestano	2012	2.57
41	67	Pat Neshek	2008	5.40
42	67	Mark Littell	1980	9.28
43	67	Greg McMichael	1994	4.60
44	67	Mark Eichhorn	1988	4.46
45	67	Ricky Bottalico	1997	3.77
46	67	Dan Plesac	1989	2.35
47	67	Mike Schooler	1990	2.89
48	67	David Robertson	2012	2.82
49	67	Michael Gonzalez	2005	2.70
50	67	Al Alburquerque	2013	4.59
51	66	Joakim Soria	2011	4.33
52	66	Boone Logan	2012	3.90
53	66	Rafael Soriano	2007	3.25
54	66	Aaron Barrett	2015	4.60
55	66	Dick Radatz	1964	2.52
56	66	Brad Lidge	2004	2.00
57	66	Brian Bruney	2009	3.92
58	66	Troy Percival	1997	3.46
59	65	Lefty Grove	1927	4.09
60	65	Rich Thompson	2012	12.00
61	65	Edwar Ramirez	2008	4.23
62	65	Will Smith	2017	0.00	DNP
63	65	Mariano Rivera	1997	2.13
64	65	Joba Chamberlain	2013	4.93
65	65	Brandon Morrow	2012	3.25
66	64	Andrew Brown	2008	3.34
67	64	Duane Ward	1991	3.02
68	64	Tug McGraw	1972	2.29
69	64	Santiago Casilla	2008	3.93
70	64	Jason Motte	2009	5.24
71	64	Ryan Dull	2017	6.43
72	64	Mychal Givens	2017	2.63
73	64	David Riske	2004	3.72
74	64	Ian Krol	2018	0.00
75	64	Dave Smith	1982	4.26
76	64	Fernando Salas	2012	4.45
77	63	Manny Delcarmen	2009	5.43
78	63	Alexi Ogando	2011	3.83
79	63	Robb Nen	1997	4.26
80	63	Jonathan Sanchez	2010	3.44
81	63	Al Hrabosky	1977	4.69
82	63	Trevor Hildenberger	2018	5.67
83	63	Sergio Romo	2010	2.32
84	62	Karl Best	1986	4.79
85	62	Shawn Tolleson	2015	3.11
86	62	Jerry Blevins	2011	4.45
87	62	Mario Soto	1984	3.87
88	62	Kyle McClellan	2011	4.51
89	62	Tim Stoddard	1980	2.83
90	62	Mike Benacka	2010	0.00	DNP
91	62	Chad Cordero	2009	0.00	DNP
92	62	Scott Garrelts	1989	2.70
93	62	Rich Gossage	1979	2.78
94	62	Kelvin Herrera	2017	5.01
95	62	Danny Patterson	1998	4.75
96	62	Yu Darvish	2014	3.30
97	62	Brad Boxberger	2015	4.29
98	62	David Aardsma	2009	2.90
99	61	Hideo Nomo	1996	3.67
100	61	Chris Perez	2013	4.50

BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2019		Due to publishing agreements, the 2019 player comments and team essays are only available in the Baseball Prospectus 2019 book (available in hardcopy, and soon e-book and Kindle).
2018		So much about Knebel's life screams "Texas": He was born in Denton, went to college at UT-Austin, stands 6-foot-4 and has a four-seamer that touches triple digits to go with a curveball that falls off the table. That profile helped Knebel become one of the best relievers in baseball in 2017. He posted the 12th-best DRA and sixth-best cFIP of any major-league pitcher (min. 50 IP), which suggests his breakout performance wasn't a fluke. He tied with Craig Kimbrel for the most strikeouts by a reliever and had two more than teammate Zach Davies notched in his 33 starts. Despite his background Knebel is a die-hard Packers fan, which may endear him to the good people of Milwaukee, although perhaps not as much as his dominance in the ninth.
2017		Scouting reports have branded Knebel a potential back-end reliever, and 2016 stands as his first trial by fire. Knebel entered 40 percent of his appearances when the game was within one run and another 31 percent with two- or three-run leads. This proved to be a big test for Knebel, who was often spelled by manager Craig Counsell in favor of Jhan Marinez, Carlos Torres, Blaine Boyer or Tyler Thornburg when trouble showed. For this reason, six of Knebel’s 20 runs allowed were inherited runners scored, which leads one to ask whether the righty should have been allowed to work out of his own jams. Oddly enough, Knebel ratcheted up his big-rising fastball with more velocity and arm-side run in 2016, but could not draw more whiffs. If the trend holds, go bullish on Knebel taking his next step as a high-leverage reliever.
2016		Corey Knebel is a potential back-end reliever who stands 6-foot-4 with a mid-to-high-90s fastball and a no-shit curveball. With only that information provided, you already know he's a Texan.
2015		Half of the package the Rangers received from Detroit for Joakim Soria, the hard-throwing Texan (stop me if you've heard that before) has the potential to fire two plus-plus pitches, his fastball and curve, in a high-leverage bullpen role. Health willing, he could do that as soon as this season. Of course that's anything but a given considering Knebel was shut down in mid-August with the harbinger of doom that is a UCL sprain, though surgery is not currently planned and his rehabilitation progress has been encouraging. The raw skills are there for Knebel to choose his own entrance music. And no matter what, his place in baseball history is secure: He was selected with the first MLB draft pick to be included in a trade.
2014		Corey Knebel, a 2013 supplemental pick, wowed in his pro debut and even earned a special exemption to play in the Arizona Fall League. If left as a reliever, he could follow a fast-track path similar to that of Addison Reed.

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PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

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

Corey Knebel has thrown 6,044 pitches that have been tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2014 and 2024, all of them occuring in Spring Training. In 2024, he has relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (92mph) and Curve (77mph). He also rarely throws a Slider (86mph).