Willis Makes Move To Bullpen, Will Face Leftys

The Diamondbacks decided that struggling Dontrelle Willis would be better coming out of the bullpen, looks like they'll be saving him for leftys. According to Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic:

Willis has walked 27 batters in 21 1/3 innings since the Diamondbacks acquired him from Detroit at the beginning of the month. He has pitched five innings or less in four of his five starts and has a 5.91 ERA.

The club is hoping to capitalize on the one thing he has done well: retire left-handed hitters. Lefties are hitting just .180 against him with a .539 OPS. (Righties, by comparison, are hitting .322 with a .937 OPS.)

"It’s worth a shot," manager A.J. Hinch said. "His troubles have primarily been against right-handed hitters. If you look at how he’s handled lefties this year, he’s been pretty good. Suffice to say that’s the situations I would try to lead him towards. We’ve got to get the walks under control and that’s the motivation behind getting him to the bullpen, to put him in a little better position to be successful, match him up a little easier."