Always Be Closing: Brad Hand Edition

This is another installment in my recurring series on closing pitching.

Right now, in the NL, there's a standstill for leaders in saves. Three guys are tied at 21 saves, which...while dwarfed by the saves accumulations of the closers of the top two AL East teams...as well as Edwin Diaz, who's killing it this year, is still a pretty nice achievement for June.

Two of the NL leaders can be understood if one is familiar with recent trends; Wade Davis is coming off of a fantastic season, and is following in the footsteps of another guy who led the league in saves last year, while Sean Doolittle is coming off of a comeback season, as well as being a prime figure in the A's teams of the early 2010s.

But then there's Brad Hand. And other than an impressive showing as a middle reliever for the last two seasons in San Diego, only taking the closing job after the trade of Brandon Maurer to the Royals, there's not a lot that would lead people to believe that he'd work as an effective closer. Remember, the transition from middle relief to closing isn't always as seamless as one might think; for every Kelvin Herrera who adjusts to the learning curve and figures out how to close games, there's someone like Dellin Betances, who flounders whenever he's given the ninth.

However, Brad Hand's second half in 2017 was indicative of the fact that he was more than ready to close if given the opportunity. And the Padres are nothing if they don't have a ton of opportunities this year.

Now, I should make it clear that Brad Hand has blown 4 saves already this season, which should put his blown lead over the rest of the division into perspective, as well as illuminating why the NL's mark isn't as high as the AL's. But...what's most important here is that the Padres have only won 35 games, and Brad Hand has saved 60 percent of them. To put that into perspective, Aroldis Chapman has only saved 45% of the Yankees' wins.

Brad Hand is not only good at what he does, but he can be good at this when the Padres need him most. You look at the other last place teams, and only Keone Kela has this ability to be rock-solid when nothing else on the team is able to be. Brad Hand has 56 strikeouts, which right now is more than Joey Lucchesi has, and he's started 13 games with a decent ERA.

Unlike Edwin Diaz, who is great as his team is also great, Brad Hand's abilities eclipse those of his team, to the point where he's been considered one of the chief trade targets for the July trade deadline. I would love to see Hand closing games for a truly great team, even if...it's more likely that someone will scoop him up just to do middle relief duties.

Coming Tonight: He's speedy, he's great at hits, and he's a charter member of a team whose weirdness is becoming the stuff of legend.