White Sox closer looks to put 'terrible' season behind him
The numbers say David Robertson did his job last season, his first as a White Sox closer.
Robertson says otherwise.
"I felt like last season I pitched terrible," the 30-year-old relief pitcher said. "I had a lot of horrible outings. I let some situations slide by and made some mental errors out there and threw some pitches that I should not have thrown and I cost us a lot of games. I look around and come in and see the starters' faces when they have thrown eight innings and I blew it there in the ninth.
"I hope this year I'm on top of my game and get the job done for these guys."
While Robertson tied for sixth in the American League last season with 34 saves and averaged 12.22 strikeouts per 9 innings, he also tied for the major-league lead with 7 blown saves.
"Robbie holds himself to an elite standard and isn't satisfied with his performance and probably, by a larger extent, the team's performance last year," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "In my opinion, he had a very solid season. Many of his peripheral numbers were very consistent with what he had done in the past. A few ill-timed late-game home runs that cost us here and there probably stand out in his mind, but that does happen over the course of the season.
"I respect the fact that he expects more of himself, and I think that's a common thread throughout the clubhouse right now, and not just the players who people felt underperformed, but also a guy like Robbie, who had a fine season and expects more of himself."
After exiting the New York Yankees as a free agent and signing a four-year, $46 million contract with the Sox, Robertson was very sharp coming out of the gates.
In 8 April appearances, the right-hander was 2-0 with 3 saves in as many tries. Robertson didn't allow an earned run in the opening month of the season and had 17 strikeouts against only 1 walk.
But as the season progressed, Robertson and the White Sox faded.
"We had really high expectations," Robertson said. "On paper, we looked really good last year. We came out and didn't really perform. I didn't do a great job. A lot of things didn't work our way. We would hit streaks where we looked like the team we were supposed to be and all of a sudden we would fall off and get our butts kicked.
"It was frustrating to be that team that was riding a roller coaster going straight up and straight down."
AL's top closers
Scot Gregor lists the American League's top closers:
1: Wade Davis, Royals
2: Craig Kimbrel, Red Sox
3: Zach Britton, Orioles
6: David Robertson, WHITE SOX