The Edge of Seventeen: Hansel Robles

[Edgy MD]

Faith in me seems to be wanting despite what I see as two years of reliable relief setting up Jeurys Familia. You know what I'm doing right now? I'm providing reliable relief setting up Jeurys Familia ON BEHALF OF MY COUNTRY in the World Baseball Classic. And no, that doesn't mean I'm not committed to the organization.

By some quirk of the data or madness of the manager, I pitched exactly the same amount of innings as Familia and Reed did. And the game was reasonably safe in my hands. I'm the #3 righthander out of the pen. Will I move up in the rankings in 2017, or down? You decide.

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[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Robles is a really intense guy, plays hard, laughs hard, absolutely loves to compete. You have to admire that.

I told this story already but last summer we were seated behind the Mets bullpen in Washington and during a rain delay he collected a ball and signed it for Lunchpail. After he tossed it to me I held it for a moment before handing it to the boy and in that instant he shot me a look that nearly sent me to the hospital: His whole face transformed behind this fury that was incredidibly intense: It said, if you don't hand the ball to that kid next to you right this second I'm going to climb this fence and beat the everloving shit out of you. I swear to god I felt a moment of pure terror, and left me like begging for his approval after I did hand it over. Just as fast, his face changed again as though to say to me "I owe you nothing. You're not what matters here." I've never been so masterfully humiliated.

But now, look how happy he can be:

Hansel Robles (@hrobles47) • Instagram video

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

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975 likes, 7 comments - hrobles47 on March 17, 2017: "HBD para mi hermano @cesarmvaldez que Dios te siga bendiciendo vida y salud🎂🎂🎂".

What I'm saying is, he's a good guy to have on our side. Relievers are hard to predict but I think he will be a little better than last year, which would indicate he's moving from "good" to "better than good." 7-5, 3.40, 72 appearances, 78 innings, 7 saves, 3 ejections

[Edgy MD]

I guess it should be unsurprising that José Reyes packs his own dancefloor lights in case a party breaks out somewhere.

[MFS62]

Agree with JCL, but with more saves (maybe 12), losta' holds and a comfort level that if all else goes bad with some other relievers (suspensions, injuries, expectations not met), he will step in and get the job done, whether it is in the 7th, 8th or 9th inning.

Later

[Ceetar]

Robles was a little wild last year, I think he'll tone it down and be excellent this year, workhorse.

92 IP.

9.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9. 2.9 ERA. 3 saves, 1 of the three inning variety.

Never finds Gretel.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Agreed on the workhorse slant, let's ride him in 2017 and hard...

[Centerfield]

Has stupid hair.

[Lefty Specialist]

Hits someone with a quick pitch and gets flattened by the guy.