Chris Resop

CHRIS RESOP
RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
Born: November 4, 1982
Height: 6′ 3″
Weight: 220
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Drafted: 4th Round, 122nd Overall, 2001
High School: Barron Collier
How Acquired: Waiver Claim
Agent: Jet Sports Management

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

Resop has taken an extraordinarily circuitous path to Pittsburgh.  Drafted as an outfielder, after a couple of years the Marlins, intrigued by his arm, moved him to the mound.  From that point on, he became a victim of the option/waiver system in baseball, as he was repeatedly in the situation of being with an organization that couldn’t control his rights long enough to develop him properly.  There probably should be a rule granting extra options for a player who changes positions.  Resop throws a fastball generally around 92-94, although he can reach 96 or so.  His other primary pitch is a curve, which in the minors he threw from a three-quarters angle.  He occasionally throws a change.  His fastball has good movement and can be a swing-and-miss pitch, but his secondary pitches haven’t been terribly effective.  He’s neither a groundball nor flyball pitcher, but he does give up a lot of line drives, around 25% both for his career and in 2011.  Average is around 19-20%.  He tends to allow a lot more walks to left-handed hitters and more extra base hits to right-handed hitters.  There’s been some sentiment among Pirate fans to see Resop as a starter, but his secondary pitches don’t appear nearly good enough for that.

2001
R:  116/189/140, 2 2B, 86 AB, 7 BB, 34 K, 0-3 SB
A-:  333/333/333, 3 AB, 2 K

Resop started off as an outfielder and didn’t hit much.

2002
R:  264/323/363, 91 AB, 5 2B, 2 3B, 5 BB, 21 K, 1-3 SB

Sent back to the GCL, Resop hit OK.

2003
A:  0-1-0, 4.97 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 12.2 IP, 3.6 BB/9, 10.7 K/9

Resop played 21 more games in the outfield, with a .501 OPS, then converted to the mound.  He struck out a lot of batters right from the start.

2004
A:  3-1-13, 2.11 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 42.2 IP, 1.7 BB/9, 15.0 K/9

Still just 21, Resop dominated low A, with an outlandish K rate and very few baserunners.  He also allowed only one HR.

2005
AA:  3-2-24, 2.57 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 49 IP, 2.9 BB/9, 10.3 K/9
MLB:  2-0-0, 8.47 ERA, 1.82 WHIP, 17 IP, 4.8 BB/9, 7.9 K/9

The Marlins moved Resop up to AA and he did well, with very good BB and K rates and just two HRs allowed.  The Marlins brought him to the majors for a couple of stints and it didn’t go well.

2006
AAA:  4-0-2, 3.81 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 49.2 IP, 2.7 BB/9, K/9
MLB:  1-2-0, 3.38 ERA, 1.97 WHIP, 21.1 IP, 6.8 BB/9, 4.2 K/9

Resop shuttled back and forth between the majors and AAA.  His 3.38 ERA in the majors was deceptive, as his peripherals were very bad.

2007
AAA:  1-3-0, 4.57 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 45.1 IP, 3.2 BB/9, 7.7 K/9
MLB:  0-0-0, 4.15 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 4.1 IP, 2.1 BB/9, 4.2 K/9

Went to the Angels in a trade and again split his time between AAA and the majors.  He also missed part of the season with biceps tendonitis.  He didn’t pitch well in AAA and got into only four games with the Angels.

2008
AAA:  2-0-0, 1.50 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 18 IP, 6.0 BB/9, 11.0 K/9
MLB:  0-1-0, 5.89 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 18.1 IP, 4.9 BB/9, 6.4 K/9
Japan:  0-2-0, 6.75 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, 21.1 IP, 3.0 BB/9, 2.5 K/9

The Braves claimed Resop when the Angels tried unsuccessfully to sneak him through waivers.  He struggled with Atlanta and the Braves eventually got him through waivers and to AAA.  He’d pitched well in 18 innings when the Hanshin team in Japan developed an interest.  Resop pitched sparingly and not too well in Japan.

2009
Japan:  1-1-0, 5.21 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 19 IP, 2.8 BB/9, 9.9 K/9

Resop spent the year in Japan, but he didn’t pitch very much.

2010
AA (Atl):  0-0-0, 4.15 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 4.1 IP, 2.1 BB/9, 4.2 K/9
AAA (Atl):  6-3-0, 2.09 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 82 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 10.0 K/9
MLB (Atl):  0-0-0, 22.50 ERA, 4.00 WHIP, 2 IP, 13.5 BB/9, 9.0 K/9
MLB (Pgh):  0-0-0, 1.89 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 19 IP, 4.7 BB/9, 11.4 K/9

Returning to the US, Resop signed a contract with Atlanta that included an opt-out clause.  The Braves moved him to the rotation in AAA and he was one of the International League’s top starters through the first three months.  He’s stated that he started throwing a changeup more often in Japan.  Previously in the minors, left-handed hitters had had much more success against him than right-handed hitters, as he’d dominated the latter, so the change may have helped him as a starter.  When the opt-out date came around, the Braves didn’t want to lose him, so they called him up.  After one bad outing, however, they lost patience and put him on waivers.  The Pirates, needing bullpen help after trading three relievers and releasing a fourth, claimed him.  They used Resop in relief and he pitched well.  He was able to get a lot of swings and misses just with his fastball, enough to pitch out of trouble at times when he allowed some walks.  He had a huge platoon split in majors (including the one Atlanta game), with an opponents’ OPS of .866 against left-handed batters and .441 against right-handed batters, but the sample size was very small.

2011
MLB:  5-4-1, 4.39 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 69.2 IP, 3.9 BB/9, 10.2 K/9

Resop appeared in 76 games and had an uneven season, allowing just a few too many hits, walks and HRs (8).  He pitched well for long stretches but had two bad months, posting an 8.38 ERA and May and 10.32 in August.  The Pirates mostly used Resop in the 7th and 8th innings, but he did best in lower leverage situations.  As measured by Baseball Reference, Resop allowed an OPS of .818 in high leverage situations, .872 in medium leverage situations, and .672 in low leverage situations.  All pitchers are much better when they’re ahead in the count, but with Resop the difference was extreme:  With the batter ahead he allowed a 1.341 OPS.  When he was ahead, it was .384.  The NL averages were .958 and .505.

2012
MLB:  1-4-1, 3.91 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 73.2 IP, 2.9 BB/9, 5.6 K/9

Resop was eligible for arbitration, but he reached agreement with the Pirates on a contract for 2012.  He pitched in middle relief, sometimes in multi-inning roles.  He had pretty much the same season as in 2011, except for some reason the bottom fell out of his K rate.  His fastball velocity was down a little, from 93.2 to 92.5–it’s actually dropped every year since 2007–and hitters made contact more often on pitches both in and out of the strike zone.  Resop’s groundball rate increased dramatically, from 36.7% to 50.4%.  Despite the high groundball rate, though, he rarely got double plays.  Like most of the rest of the bullpen, Resop fell apart late in the season, allowing an opponents’ OBP of .415 in September.

Resop is a serviceable middle reliever, but that’s all.  He’ll probably get a modest salary increase in arbitration, but the Pirates should consider non-tendering him just the same.  They have more promising possibilities, like Chris Leroux and Bryan Morris, neither of whom has an option left.

STATS
Baseball Reference–Majors
Baseball Reference–Minors
Fangraphs
MLB.com
MiLB.com
CONTRACT INFORMATION
2013: Arbitration salary
2012:
$850,000 (avoided arbitration)
2011:
 $431,500
2008: $390,000
2006: $327,000
PLAYER INFORMATION
Signing Bonus: $300,000
MiLB Debut: 2003
MLB Debut: 6/28/2005
MiLB FA Eligible: N/A
MLB FA Eligible:
2014
Rule 5 Eligible: N/A
Added to 40-Man:
6/15/2010
Options Remaining: 0 (USED: 2005, 2006, 2007)
MLB Service Time: 4.038
TRANSACTIONS
June 5, 2001: Drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 4th round, 122nd overall pick; signed on July 12.
November 19, 2004: Contract purchased by the Florida Marlins.
November 20, 2006: Acquired by the Los Angeles Angels from the Florida Marlins in exchange for Kevin Gregg.
October 25, 2007: Claimed off of waivers by the Atlanta Braves.
May 26, 2008: Designated for assignment by the Atlanta Braves.
February 17, 2010: Signed by the Atlanta Braves to a minor league contract.
June 15, 2010: Contract purchased by the Atlanta Braves.
August 4, 2010: Claimed off of waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.