What Happened to Ron Villone?

Posted by Anthony Wilson on Jul. 20, 2009 at 11:43 PM
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On June 19, after an appearance in Nationals Park against the Blue Jays, Ron Villone was cruising along as the Nationals best reliever. He worked 0.1 innings that day without giving up a run (though he did walk a guy and gave up a hit) and reduced his season ERA to 1.77. In a bullpen that can be best described as miserable -- more like moribund -- Villone was one of the few bright spots.

Since then, Villone has given up earned runs in six of his next seven appearances. He's gotten progressively worse, too: he gave up a run in a third of an inning versus the Braves on July 3, two earned runs at Colorado in an inning on July 8 and three ER in 2.0 innings against the Cubs yesterday. His ERA now stands at 4.50.

So, what happened to Ron Villone? In a word, nothing. He's simply regressed to the mean.

Villone has appeared in at least 19 games in each of his 15 seasons in the bigs, both as a starter and as a reliever. He hasn't had an ERA under 4.08 since his third season in the league, and he's had an ERA above 5.0 six times. His career ERA is a middling 4.75, just above where his season ERA is now. He's not too bad for a guy knocking on the door to 40-years old.

But, let's be honest, he's a filler player. The Nationals are paying him a (relatively) little amount to eat up some innings. And, having pitched for 15 seasons in the pros, he's probably pretty knowledgable; something he can impart on the young pitchers on the staff. Jim Riggleman could do worse than putting him on the hill every few days.