With another victory on Thursday, the Chicago White Sox are in the midst of a six-game winning streak. After a dismal first four-plus months of the season, the Sox are playing arguably their best ball of the year. However, since the Sox are still 21.5 games out of first place, this current streak is pretty meaningless. The real story here is Addison Reed.
With the White Sox not winning many games this season, Reed hasn’t seen as many save chances as he would like, but he has delivered when called upon. Reed has converted a save in each game during this six-game winning streak, giving him 34 saves on the season. It should be mentioned that Reed has blown five save opportunities, but that is still a very acceptable number for a top-tier closer.
Before the season, I stated that I thought Addison Reed was ready to take his game to another level and become one of the elite closers in the American League. He has done exactly that. In addition to converting 87 percent of his save opportunities, Reed owns a solid 3.13 ERA and a very tidy 1.01 WHIP. While those numbers are great, they are also a little deceiving due to two games where Reed surrendered a total of nine earned runs. In 56 appearances, Reed has only given up a run in 12 games, and he has allowed multiple runs to score in just four outings. Overall, Reed has been very consistent during his 60.1 innings of work by collecting 60 strikeouts and holding his opponents to a .207 batting average.
This season has been one to forget for White Sox fans, but at least they know they have a proven closer in Addison Reed.
-Eric Tichelbaut
Follow me on Twitter @etichel07
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