page_title: Richard Bleier
section_title: 2017
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Bleier / Major league career / Baltimore Orioles (2017–2020) / 2017
caption_attribution_description: Pirates at Orioles 6/7/17
context_page_description: Richard Sidney Bleier is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball.
  In high school, he was a State of Florida All Star in 2005. In his junior year of college at Florida Gulf Coast University, he was selected unanimously as the Atlantic Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year and First Team All Sun Conference. The Texas Rangers selected Bleier in the sixth round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. In 2009, his 125 strikeouts were the second-most in the Rangers' minor league system, and he gave up the fewest walks-per-9 innings in the California League. Bleier signed with the Washington Nationals organization before the 2015 season, pitched for the Harrisburg Senators that year, and had the most wins and the lowest ERA of all minor league pitchers in the Nationals minor league system. He was a 2015 post-season Class AA Eastern League All Star, and was voted a Washington organization All Star by MiLB.com.→
  Bleier debuted in the majors in 2016 for the New York Yankees, following nine minor league seasons in which he pitched 956 innings, and he was one of 12 Yankees pitchers since 1919 to make his debut after turning 29 years old.
context_section_description: On February 21, 2017, the Yankees traded Bleier to the Baltimore Orioles for a player to be named later or cash considerations. One appearance after being handed his first career loss, Bleier tossed 1​²⁄₃ scoreless innings in extra innings for his first career victory, against the Detroit Tigers. Bleier had a solid first half for the Orioles, with a 1.45 ERA in 30​¹⁄₃ innings, over 25 relief appearances.
  Through August 4, 2017, Bleier had the lowest ERA (1.56) in the American League of all pitchers with 40 innings pitched. At the same time—pitching to contact—he had averaged 4.02 strikeouts-per-9-innings, the lowest average of all such AL pitchers, and batters he faced averaged 3.39 pitches-per-plate-appearance, the second-lowest average among all such AL pitchers.
  In 57 relief appearances in 2017, he was 2–1 with three holds and had a 1.99 ERA. Bleier averaged 3.69 strikeouts-per-9-innings, the lowest average of all AL pitchers who had pitched 60 innings or more, and batters he faced averaged 3.45 pitches-per-plate-appearance, the second-lowest average among all such AL pitchers. He induced ground balls 68.8% of the time, the second-highest rate among all relievers in baseball.
caption: Bleier with the Orioles in 2017
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