Leo Nunez, the formerly embattled Marlins closer, is not a household name. If he keeps playing the way he has the first two months of the season, he soon will be. "Lights Out" Leo (OK, I just gave him that nickname) has been spectacular.
He's appeared in 13 games, successfully converting all 6 save opportunities and, most incredibly, he's only allowed 4 hits all season. Among all major league closers, Nunez's 0.68 WHIP is second only to Mariano Rivera's 0.56 and he has the lowest opponent's batting average among all closers with a tidy .100. In short, Nunez hasn't just been great, he's been otherworldly.
When new pitching coach Randy St. Claire arrived in Jupiter, his first order of business was fixing an anomaly in Nunez's delivery that he thought was tipping the coming pitch. Nunez's repertoire is not very diverse - a changeup (his out pitch) a fastball and a slider that really only serves a "show me" role - so tipping a pitch, thus eliminating the element of surprise on the changeup, would be devastating. So far, it looks like St. Claire was correct. Nunez still has the same mid-90's fastball and biting changeup, but now hitters look completely befuddled by it. For now, it looks like St. Claire hit the jackpot on one mechanical tweak, and the rest of the National League has to deal with it.
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