In part ten of my almost 50 part series “Better Know An Oriole” (otherwise known as 2009 Orioles Retrospective), I take a look at right-handed reliever Chris Lambert… THE FIGHTIN’ HIGHLANDER!
Lambert was claimed off waivers by the O’s from the Tigers (where he went 0-1 with a 14.85 ERA in 6.2 IP in the majors) towards the end of August. He made three starts in Triple-A from the Birds – going 1-2 with a 6.94 ERA – before he was called up to pitch out of the bullpen. Lambert got into 4 games, pitching 5.2 innings with a 4.76 ERA, 8 H, 1 BB, 7 K, and 2 HR.
From the Pitch/FX data at FanGraphs, it looks like Lambert doesn’t throw hard (89.7 mph) but gets OK movement on his fastball and curve, and good movement on his change-up. He doesn’t get enough groundballs (just over 34% this year) for me to think he’ll be a legitimate option as a longman next year (though his 23.8% HR/FB ratio was obviously an aberration) – at least as Plan A (or possibly A through C). Thankfully for him, it’s not the case that there can be only one. (Sorry.) Lambert was a below replacement level pitcher in the majors this year overall, putting up an 8.29 FIP and -0.3 WAR. Fun Fact though; Chris Lambert led the O’s in expected FIP this year, at 2.81.
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