It’s another domino falling in a fast-moving aid market. Detroit initially acquired Finnegan from the Nationals at the trade deadline. He had a 4.38 earned run average with a strikeout rate of less than 20% at the time. It honestly seemed disappointing for the team’s biggest bullpen pickup. However, the Tigers correctly identified Finnegan as a player who had a different advantage with a change in his pitch mix.
In Washington, Finnegan had been throwing his fastball about two-thirds of the time. He used his splitter at about a 30% clip and mixed sporadically into a slider. The Tigers encouraged him to dramatically scale up the use of the split-finger offering. In August it was about 50-50, and in September and into the postseason he used the splitter more than 55% of the time. The impact on his results was immediate.
Finnegan allowed just three runs in 16 regular season innings as a Tiger. He fanned 23 of 66 opponents, nearly doubling his early-season strikeout total. His swinging success rate increased by five percentage points. The right-hander secured four saves and three holds, while only giving up one lead. He missed a few weeks in September with a groin injury but immediately stepped back into a key role for skipper AJ Hinch. Finnegan added 7 1/3 frames of three-run ball in the postseason, albeit with just three strikeouts.
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