Kuo Signs with the M's

Few players have had to overcome more obstacles than lefty reliever Hong-Chih Kuo, who signed a non-guaranteed MLB contract with the Mariners on Monday. The 30-year-old has undergone five elbow surgeries -- including two Tommy John procedures -- since signing with the Dodgers out of Taiwan back in 1999. He also dealt with anxiety issues in 2011 that reportedly had him contemplating retirement. Here's hoping that Kuo is healthy all-around in 2012, as he's as nasty as any reliever in baseball when he's on his game.

Kuo was unhittable as recently as 2010, when he had a staggering 321 ERA+ in 60 innings pitched. That was one of the best ERA+ totals ever among relievers logging at least 60 frames:

Rk	Player	ERA+	IP	Year	Tm
1	Dennis Eckersley	610	73.1	1990	OAK
2	Jonathan Papelbon	517	68.1	2006	BOS
3	Chris Hammond	441	76	2002	ATL
4	Jose Mesa	418	64	1995	CLE
5	David Robertson	410	66.2	2011	NYY
6	Eric O'Flaherty	389	73.2	2011	ATL
7	John Smoltz	385	64.1	2003	ATL
8	Dale Murray	374	69.2	1974	MON
9	Tim Burke	356	91	1987	MON
10	Eric Gagne	337	82.1	2003	LAD
11	B.J. Ryan	335	72.1	2006	TOR
12	Rollie Fingers	333	78	1981	MIL
13	Bruce Sutter	328	107.1	1977	CHC
14	Ugueth Urbina	325	69.1	1998	MON
15	Carlos Marmol	325	69.1	2007	CHC
16	Hong-Chih Kuo	321	60	2010	LAD
17	Armando Benitez	319	69.2	2004	FLA
18	Takashi Saito	319	64.1	2007	LAD
19	Mariano Rivera	319	70.2	2008	NYY
20	J.J. Putz	319	71.2	2007	SEA

Source: Baseball-Reference

While a .207 BABIP certainly had something to do with Kuo's 1.20 ERA, he dominated the competition by striking out 32% of the batters he faced. He did that with a fastball that averaged 94.2 mph and got a miss 30% of the time that hitters offered at it, dusting the 18% average for relief pitchers. Kuo elevated the fastball...

Kuo's fastball location, 2010

And opponents didn't have a prayer against those upper-zone heaters. Take a look at hitters' contact rate by pitch location vs. Kuo's fastball in 2010, and then the league average:

Hitters' contact rate by pitch location vs. Kuo's fastball, 2010

Average hitter contact rate by location vs. fastballs, 2010

In 2011, however, Kuo lost control of his fastball and a few ticks of velocity (down to an average of 92.5 mph). He was especially prone to missing high out of the zone:

Kuo's fastball location, 2011

Kuo threw 55% of his fastballs in the zone in 2010, but that fell to just 47% in 2011. That, coupled with spottier control of his slider (45 Zone% in 2010, 35 Zone% in 2011) led to Kuo issuing 21 unintentional walks in 27 innings.

Non-tendered by the Dodgers, Kuo will have to pitch his way on to Seattle's squad this spring. He'll make $1 million if he cracks the 25-man roster, and he can earn up to $2.25 million more in incentives. We'll be rooting for Kuo to have a happy, lucrative 2012 season.