Forgotten Pittsburgh Pirates: Chris Resop

A very durable arm in 2011 and 2012, Chris Resop was one of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ most reliable arms, even if the results weren’t the greatest

What relief pitcher pitched the most innings in 2011 and 2012 for the Pittsburgh Pirates? If it weren’t for the title of this article, who would you probably guess? Joel Hanarhan, Jason Grilli, Tony Watson, or possibly Jared Hughes? But it was actually right handed pitcher Chris Resop who pitched 143.1 innings with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011 and 2012, along with 19 innings in 2010. But since the early 2010s, Resop has become a fairly forgotten name.

Resop was originally a Florida Marlin farm hand. He was never really a highly touted prospect, never appearing on any prospect lists. He was pretty much the 26-man before the 26-man roster was a thing. From 2005 to 2008, Resop played with the Marlins (‘05-’06), LA Angels (‘07) and Atlanta Braves (‘08) where he only pitched in 61 innings. He posted a 5.61 ERA, 4.84 FIP and 1.70 WHIP. Though he did only give up 5 long balls, Resop walked nearly as many batters he struck out with a 40/36 strikeout to walk ratio. He pretty much served as the nondescript minor leaguer who was called up to fill in a roster spot for a few days because of an injury or one of the other various reasons before being optioned back days later.

After being released half way through the 2008 season, Resop optioned to go to Japan for two years, but didn’t pitch much across the ocean. He only accumulated 40.1 innings in the two years, and was re-signed by the Braves in the 2009-2010 off season. Resop spent most of the 2010 season at Triple-A, where he was actually quite effective. This time serving as a starter, Resop pitched in 15 games and 82 innings, posting a 2.09 ERA, 2.91 FIP and 1.03 WHIP. He struck out 91 batters, and gave up just four long balls. Free passes became a non-issue as he only surrendered 32.

But the Braves didn’t really view him as anything more than depth, so he was put on waivers after one game where he allowed five earned runs in two innings, and was claimed by the Pirates. Resop was really impressive in just the 19 inning sample size he had with the Bucs. He only allowed 4 earned runs on 10 hits, one of which was a home run. While he did walk 10 batters, he struck out 24.

This short stint earned Resop a spot in the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen the following year. Resop pitched a lot, nearly appearing in half of the season’s games. But while he did have a solid season, Resop got extremely unlucky. In 76 games and 69.1 innings, Resop had a 4.39 ERA, 3.67 FIP, and 1.47 WHIP. Although he kept his strong strikeout rate of 25.6%, and saw his walks decrease to under 10% at 9.7%, Resop saw his home run rate spike to 1.03 per 9, but that was the only real downside of his 2011 season. Despite his ERA above 4, Resop had a strong 3.01 SIERA and 3.67 DRA. A .344 batting average on balls in play was not helping him either.

In 2012, Resop served a multi-inning role. In the 61 games he pitched in, 15 of them saw Resop pitch at least 2 innings. While Resop saw a decrease in his ERA to 3.91, walk rate to 7.3%, and HR/9 to 0.7, his strikeout rate dramatically decreased. It plummeted by nearly half to just 13.9%. While Resop did get unlucky in 2011, he was just bad in 2012. He had a 3.96 FIP, 4.60 xFIP, 4.24 SIERA, and 4.42 DRA.

After 2012, the Pittsburgh Pirates sent Resop to the Oakland Athletics for pitcher Zack Thorton. Resop pitched 18 more MLB innings in his career, all coming with the A’s in 2013. But he allowed 12 earned runs on 22 hits, 10 walks and three home runs. Resop pitched his last professional game in 2014 when he was with the Boston Red Sox’ Triple-A team. Thornton on the other hand was sent to the New York Mets for first baseman Ike Davis.

While Resop was not anything special, he was reliable and durable. He managed to throw over 150 innings in three seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was never on the injured list.