Milwaukee appears likely — at this point, at least — to be in the mind of using Jonathan Broxton as the team’s closer in 2015, that large right-hander having been acquired by the club from Cincinnati at the end of August. Broxton is projected to record a 96 FIP- next year, which would represent the worst figure of his career among seasons in which he pitched 50-plus inning. That’s not surprising: Broxton recorded the lowest average fastball velocity (93.2 mph) of his career in 2014, and he’s a player for whom there’s been a strong correlation between arm speed and effectiveness, as the hastily made graph below indicates — which graph features Broxton’s average fastball velocity in seasons during which he’s pitched 50-plus innings and then the FIP- figures he’s recorded in those same seasons.
