Breaking down the bullpen issues

Game 1: First, Montero gave up a homer to Cabrera. Cabrera has been doing well hitting the outside zone. He threw an 85-mile pitch. Cabrera hit it. Velocity and placement were the problems there. Pressley gave up a sacrifice fly. His issue was mostly location. Both hits given up to Judge and Rizzo were pitches right down the middle. Rizzo and Judge can only hit in the middle. Pressly needs to figure out his location.

Game 2: Scott was unlucky. His walk to Volpe should have been a strikeout. Two of the called balls hit the edges of the strike zone. His walk to Wells should have ended the inning. Two of the balls hit the edges of the zone as well. Scott was super unlucky, and the two walks cut into his morale and he just fell apart. Mushinski was unlucky as well. The two errors should have ended the inning, but it ended up closing out the game for us. Cabrera should never have been up in the first place. Bielak's problem was location. He threw a pitch right down the middle.

Game 3: Abreu's walk to Wells should have been a strikeout. Then there was the home run from Cabrera. That was pure bad luck. Hit the edge, 97 miles per hour, but it was hit along the line barely over the fence. That one was a lucky hit. Soto's home run came from bad location. Fastball near the middle should be expected to end up as a home run. Pressly's home run to Volpe was also a fastball right down the middle. Both need to fix their location.

Game 4: Soto's hit should have been a strikeout. The second pitch was barely a strike, but was called a ball. Bad luck.

Game 6: Hader was pitching around Turner. He shouldn't be scared of giving up a hit. The home run to Schneider was a slower pitch down the middle. Again, LOCATION.

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Takeaways: The bullpen failures were mostly poor location with a bit of bad luck mixed in. The bullpen's shouldn't be as bad as it is, but it is still subpar. However, it is early in the season, and starters have been solid. Don't hit the panic button right now, but what we've seen is still concerning. Here's each pitcher's biggest concern.

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Montero: Location

Pressly: Location

Scott: bad luck

Mushinski: bad luck

Bielak: location

Abreu: bad luck / location

Hader: location

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