What Happened to Ryne Stanek?

Ryne Stanek was never 'lights out' before 2022. But somehow, Stanek turned himself into the most dominant setup man in baseball. Only Evan Phillips of the Los Angeles Dodgers had a lower ERA as a reliever this year, 1.14 to 1.15.

Now, the Houston Astros have deigned to barely use Stanek at all this postseason. His only appearance was in the 11th inning of ALDS Game 3, an 18-inning slog in which nearly every Astros reliever featured.

Stanek appeared in all but three of the Astros' 2021 postseason contests, 13 appearances in 16 games. He's a workhorse and has continued to pitch like one in 2022. So his absence from these big games is even more befuddling.

The most glaring reason for his disappearance is his BB%. Stanek was 1st percentile overall, the bottom of the league with a 13.8% walk-rate in 2022. He worked to weak contact exceptionally well, but he struggled to limit baserunners.

Stanek is best served coming into a clean inning because of this. The Astros don't want him coming out of the bullpen with runners on base just to walk a batter and force them into an even more dangerous situation.

Stanek should eventually get his due. It's not like that walk-rate prevented him from having a good FIP. He still struck batters out at a consistent rate and kept home runs from leaving the ballpark. He ranked 51st of 152 qualified relievers with a 3.02 FIP.

No matter how you evaluate him, Stanek is a good reliever, even great if you ignore certain peripherals, but it's evident the Astros are going to be cautious with him this postseason.