{"id":89833,"date":"2024-11-16T16:48:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T21:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=89833"},"modified":"2024-11-16T16:48:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T21:48:46","slug":"solid-journeyman-short-reliever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/16\/solid-journeyman-short-reliever\/","title":{"rendered":"Solid Journeyman Reliever Looking For His Next Assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten-year pro Shawn Armstrong<\/a> is a solid journeyman short reliever with a proven record of consistency. The right-hander joined the Chicago Cubs in early September for what proved to be a failed late-season push. Now, the 34-year-old free agent is looking for his next assignment with what will be his eighth club in eleven seasons.<\/p>\n

Solid Journeyman Reliever Looking For His Next Assignment<\/h2>\n

Shawn Armstrong<\/a> Player Profile<\/h3>\n

Armstrong was selected number 548 overall by the then Cleveland Indians in the 2011 draft. The six-foot-two, two-hundred twenty-five-pound pitcher played his college ball at East Carolina University, where he majored in exercise physiology. He and his wife, Sarah, own a private coaching facility called Arm-Strong Performance outside of Raleigh, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

After being selected to the International League All-Star team in July 2015, Armstrong was called up to the big leagues. Utilizing a five-pitch arsenal with average velocity, Armstrong has seen mostly limited action from seven different teams. Arguably his best season was 2019 with the Baltimore Orioles. That season, he recorded a 1-0 record in 51 games with a 1.55 WHIP and 60 strikeouts in 54 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

Pitching Statistics And Pitch Selection<\/h3>\n

Over his career, consistency has been Armstrong’s greatest strength. He has remained relatively healthy, and his career, with a 4.15 ERA and 1.32 WHIP, is right around the league averages for relief pitchers. He averages just over an inning per outing but has managed an 11-8 record with 29 holds and 360 strikeouts in 347 1\/3 innings. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is exactly three to one.<\/p>\n

His primary pitches are a 4-seamer, cutter, and sinker. The fastball averages 93 mph and touches 95, and he will also throw a sweeper and slider on occasion. He gets average marks on his breaking run value, according to Baseball Savant<\/a>, which rates his overall value as below average. Armstrong recorded less than average career stats last year, but his overall 2.4 WAR<\/a> as measured by Baseball Reference is respectable.<\/p>\n

Salary And Market Value Comparisons<\/h3>\n

The combination of his consistent good health and performance in a short relief role may account for his market value. Spotrac.com calculates Armstrong’s value<\/a> for 2025 at $2.1M, just above his annual salary of $2.05M from a year ago.<\/p>\n

Compare that with another free agent like Dylan Floro<\/a> (1.8 WAR), whose market value stands at $9.1M. Floro, 34, was DFA’d by the Arizona Diamondbacks after a poor showing (9.37 ERA, 1.65 WHIP over 16 1\/3 innings).<\/p>\n

Danny Coulombe<\/a>, 35, missed a large portion of the 2024 season after surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow. Coulombe pitched six scoreless<\/a> innings after his return in the regular season and the postseason for the Baltimore Orioles. Despite that, the Orioles declined his $4M option, making him a free agent.<\/p>\n

A Good Option For Teams Needing Bullpen Support<\/h3>\n

His relatively young age and low salary impact make Shawn Armstrong a good fit for teams looking for help to boost their bullpens. Wild Card teams like the Kansas City Royals (4.13 bullpen ERA), and the Baltimore Orioles (4.22), for instance.<\/p>\n

The Boston Red Sox (4.39), or the Arizona Diamondbacks (4.41), two teams on the outside looking in at season’s end, will also be on the lookout for a solid journeyman short reliever.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten-year pro Shawn Armstrong is a solid journeyman short reliever with a proven record of consistency. The right-hander joined the Chicago Cubs in early September for what proved to be a failed late-season push. Now, the 34-year-old free agent is looking for his next assignment with what will be his eighth club in eleven seasons. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5158,"featured_media":89852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2,1071],"tags":[68,69],"class_list":["post-89833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cubs","category-featured","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-mlb"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}