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In his first full season in Los Angeles, Luis Avilan spent a lot of separate stints in Triple-A but finished strong and found himself pitching for the Dodgers in the playoffs.
What went right
The fifth-year left-hander set career highs with a 34.1% strikeout rate and 12.81 strikeouts per nine innings.
Avilan posted a 3.20 ERA and 2.13 FIP in 27 relief appearances, and didn’t allow a home run in 19⅔ major league innings. He had a 2.16 ERA in 21 games after the All-Star break.
Lefties hit just .200/.319/.200 (8-for-40) against Avilan, but he was even better against right-handed batters, holding them to .143/273/.179 (4-for-28 with 13 strikeouts).
Avilan’s strong second half earned him a spot on the postseason roster for both the NLDS and NLCS. He pitched seven scoreless appearances, with three strikeouts and a walk in his 3⅔ October innings.
What went wrong
Avilan racked up the frequent flyer miles in 2016, getting sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City seven different times during the season, most on the team.
He didn’t see much time in the majors in the first half, appearing in only six of 91 games before the All-Star break, allowing three runs in three innings during that span.
Avilan allowed four of seven inherited runners to score in the postseason.
2016 particulars
Age: 26
Stats: 3.20 ERA in 27 games, 28 K, 10 BB, 19⅔ IP, 0.2 rWAR, 0.5 fWAR
Salary: $1.39 million
Game of the year
Avilan entered a scoreless tie at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 14 with runners on first and second base and two outs in the seventh inning. He got the final out of that frame then pitched a scoreless eighth, and earned the win after the Dodgers rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to beat the Yankees. Avilan struck out three of his five batters faced.
Roster status
Avilan has three years, 146 days of service time, and is eligible for salary arbitration this winter. MLB Trade Rumors projects the left-hander to earn $1.5 million in 2017.
Avilan is out of options, having used them in 2012, 2014 and 2016.