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Preston Claiborne was a revelation after being called up in early May. No one expected much, or even expected him to be in the majors this season, but he was lights out: from May 5 to June 12 he put up an unbelievable 0.46 ERA and batter hit 183/.205/.239 against him in 19.2 innings pitched.
That time has come and gone. In the last month he has a 7.00 ERA and batters are hitting .359/.432/.564 against him in 9 innings. He's actually managed to be worse than Joba Chamberlain during that same time. Joba has a 5.40 ERA and has a .345/.406/.586 batting line against in 6.2 innings and he's been crucified over his inability to be even an average reliever. Somehow Claiborne has managed to be even worse than that.
It's disappointing to see, but Claiborne was never going to have a sub-1.00 ERA for the rest of the season. After only walking one batter in nearly 20 innings he's walked four in less than ten. It seems he's unraveled at the seams since June and that could be because of his inability to get lefties out. He has kept right-handed hitters off balance with a 173/.218/.327 batting line against, but left-handed hitters have teed off on him to the tune of .310/.355/.379. He's going to have to find a way to get them out if he wants to have any value going forward.
People talk about getting rid of Joba Chamberlain and calling up Dellin Betances, who has a 2.12 ERA and has kept opponents to a .168/.259/.269 batting line in 34 innings as a reliever, but maybe it's also time to send Preston Claiborne down and call up someone who can get the job done.