The third part of the Braves’ three-headed bullpen monster posted a freakish 0.98 ERA in 2011. (It wasn’t an “unearned” runs fluke — only one of the nine runs scored against him was scored unearned.) While he didn’t strike out people at Venters’ rate, much less Kimbrel’s, he was still strong there (8.2 K/9) his control was much better, and he had the same ability to inhibit home runs (just two allowed all year). When you get ground balls, you strike people out, and you don’t walk them, baseball is a very simple, and low-scoring, game.

O’Flaherty’s year was probably a bit fluky compared to the other two’s, as it doesn’t really have the components to sustain that level of success. (Few do.) On the other hand, his .285 batting average on balls in play was the same as in 2010, so it wasn’t that fluky. He had a lot of good timing. He’s just an outstanding relief pitcher, who is really ready to move up to a more glamourous role. That probably wouldn’t be with the Braves. He’s going to start getting expensive in a little bit, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he were traded after the season, or worse during it (because that would mean that the Braves were out of it).

Eric O’Flaherty Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com.