Making adjustments: The making of a great pitcher

I don't know if we'll ever see another reliever like Mariano Rivera. He is a wonder. Look at some of these career numbers: 16 seasons, 2.24 ERA, 529 saves, 203 ERA+, 2.79 FIP, 50.6 WAR (according to baseball-reference). Some other fascinating facts.

• Since 2002, Mariano has only had one season with an ERA over 2.00 (2007). The same is true of his FIP.
• The dude is 40.
• Until 2005, he had only one season with more than 9/K per 9. Since then, he's had five. And remember: this started when he was 35.
• Over the course of his career, he's struck out almost 4 times as many batters as he's walked.
• He's pitched at least 61 innings every year except for 2002. Now, he's not Rollie Fingers in the innings department, but actually, I'd take Mariano over Fingers any day.
• Did I mention the guy got better with age? And that he's having a similarly brilliant season at the age of 40?

Of course, only three things can explain the above amazingness:

• Performance enhancing drugs
• Dark magic
• He learned a pitch from Bugs Bunny

Yankees fans can send me hate mail yankeessuck@jeterisapansy.com.

Now you might be asking why a Red Sox fan would be singing the praises of the reliever of Satan's Minions. For lots of reasons. He's awesome. I'm not longer terrified by him after 2004. And he exemplifies how great pitchers make adjustments over time.

If you listen to announcers, you might get the impression that Rivera has been the same reliever since he began setting up for John Wetteland in mid-90s. But the numbers do not bear this out.

He's throwing different pitches. Since 2002, he's switched how he's thrown the ball, changing his pitch-mix assortment, and seeing some drop in velocity. Yet his performance has not suffered, and his pitches continue to be just as valuable. How is that possible? Adjustments. Grip, arm angle, every tool he has, Rivera has used to his advantage to be one of the most dominant relievers of all time.

I recently wrote about how Papelbon is losing his dominant stuff. He has also made adjustments, but the results are not there. actually the opposite. And that's the difference between the great and the very good. Between Rivera and Papelbon. Between Clemens and Beckett. Greatness as a pitcher is making adjustments over time, and maintaing great, consistent performance.

So that's why even a Red Sox fan can enjoy the great Mariano.