StaTuesday: Brewers' Thornburg having one of best seasons ever for reliever

Apr 6, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Tyler Thornburg (37) pitched an inning of scoreless relief against the San Francisco Giants at Miller Park. Thornburg picked up the win as the Brewers beat the Giants 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Tyler Thornburg was just another member of the Milwaukee Brewers' bullpen when everything changed in late July.

That's when the Brewers dealt relievers Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith before the non-waiver trading deadline. Manager Craig Counsell then moved Thornburg into the closer's role. To say Thornburg has done well there would be an understatement.

Of course, Thornburg was having a good year even before all those moves. Before the All-Star break, Thornburg had pitched in 35 innings and held opponents to a 168/246/328 slash line. Since the break, he's lowered that to 110/187/171 in 25 1/3 innings. That .110 average equates to allowing just nine hits.

In fact, Thornburg is having one of the best seasons by a reliever in history, at least in terms of hits per 9 innings. Of pitchers who have gone at least 60 innings, Thornburg currently ranks tied for 11th all-time with 4.48 hits per 9. (He's also on quite a streak, more on that below.)

It is interesting to see some of the other players on the list. Carlos Marmol was troubled by walks and homers -- in 2008, 25 percent (10 of 40) of his hits left the ballpark. Others like Jeff Nelson and Armando Benitez also had struggles with control.

Like Thornburg (at least for the first few months), not everyone on this list is a closer. Marmol in '08 had only seven saves; Nelson and Dellin Betances were setup men, as was Troy Percival in 1995 -- he used his good performance to be named closer in 1996, and make this list again.

The one outlier is Mike Naymick. Of those who allowed under 4.70 hits per 9, they all appeared since 1995, except for Naymick, who allowed 4.60 hits per 9 in 1943. Of course, he also walked 6.8 batters per 9 that season.

Here's all the pitchers with under a 4.70 H/9 and 60+ IP:

Back to Thornburg. While he's been deadly against left-handers -- southpaws are hitting only .114 against him -- Thornburg has been especially tough on righties as of late.

Since former Brewer Rickie Weeks, now with Arizona, had singled off him on July 28, right-handers are 0 for 33 against Thornburg (with a few walks, a bunt and an error included), which is the longest active streak for any pitcher in the majors.

Here's the list of the right-handers who have faced Thornburg since that Weeks hit (entering Tuesday's game):

Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns