Jonathan Broxton pitches as the closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Broxton 2009 season ranks as the finest of his career. He improved over his career strikeout, walk and home run rates through 2008, which were already excellent.

Broxton delivers in all aspects of the game as far as a pitcher is concerned. It should be noted, however, that he greatly benefits from pitching in Dodger Stadium. For Jonathan’s career, opponents post a .184/.260/.239 slash line against him at home, .238/.320/.384 on the road. There’s nothing wrong with the latter, but it’s his home park that makes him a superstar closer.

Jonathan Broxton shows off the dreaded inverted W as he pitches against the Rockies to clinch the NL West title for the Dodgers. Photo: Icon SMI

If you follow the previous link down further, you’ll also see he’s been fairly devastating against his NL West opponents. The Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies all hit .200 or less against him with poor OBPs and low power. The Giants, however, do get to him a bit (.265/.341/.393 slash line), which I’m sure adds to the rivalry. As you can see, his stirkeouts, walks and home runs are all worse than his overall career averages when he pitches against San Francisco.

Broxton is just just the kind of pitcher who a team wants closing games. His high strikeout rate means he limits hits, so even a few walks aren’t going to bother him much. He’s also not going to give up the big, game changing hit very often. I suspect that he’s going to get a very big raise going into his second year of arbitration.