Blogs

Ray Flowers

By The Numbers - Pitchers

July 1, 2009 4:23pm CDT

"Numbers constitute the only universal language." -- Nathanael West, Author/Screenwriter

* Two numbers that don't seem to go together at all - 4.99 and 1.14. Those are the ERA and WHIP marks for Twins' pitcher Scott Baker. The righty from Louisiana has won his last four decisions and has posted a quality start in five of his last six appearances as he has lowered his ERA down from 6.32. In fact, his ratios over those six starts have been very, very strong as he has presented his owners with a 3.20 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP in 39.1 innings.

* Brian Bannister has had one roller coaster of a season for a man with a 3.93 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP through 14 starts. Nine times this season he has allowed two or fewer earned runs. However, he has allowed five runs twice and in two other outings he has allowed seven and eight runs (his 14th outing was a three-run effort). In his nine "good starts" he has posted an ERA of 1.69. In his four "bad" starts - hide those that have queasy stomachs - that ERA is a catastrophic 10.89. Overall he is just 5-6, and he has lost five of his last six decisions.

* Anyone realize how amazing that Jonathan Broxton has been this season? Of course you do with numbers like a 2.21 ERA and a 0.79 WHIP, but his studliness goes even deeper. Broxton is currently averaging 14.73 strikeouts per nine innings which is more than the combined totals of Jered Weaver (7.32) and Ryan Dempster (7.27). He also has a 4.62 K/BB mark, better than the likes of Ryan Franklin (4.00) and Trevor Hoffman (3.80), and don't even think you are going to come up with a hit against the big fella as batters are hitting a meager .134. By the way, his hit per nine mark is 3.92, and if he were somehow to maintain that mark over the duration of the season while throwing 70-innings (he currently has tossed 36.2) he would become the first man in baseball history to throw 70-innings with a H/9 mark under 4.00. That's some serious dealing.

* Chris Carpenter entered his outing on Tuesday night with a 1.78 ERA and a 5-2 record. He left the outing against the Giants with a 2.42 ERA and a 5-3 record after allowing 11 hits and six runs in five innings. Why was this poor outing so significant? Carpenter entered the game having allowed 13 earned runs in his first 10 starts and he hadn't allowed more than six hits in any game this season. It was also the first time in his last 20 trips to the hill that he allowed double-digit hits.

* Joba Chamberlain continues to do some things well, and other things poorly.

Good: He has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 10-straight starts.
Bad: Only twice in that time has he lasted more than six innings.

Good: He has averaged 8.11 K/9.
Bad: His number as a reliever was 11.00.

Good: His left on base rate of 77 percent is a strong mark (ML avg. is about 70 percent).
Bad: His career LOB mark is 80 percent.

He hasn't been great by any means, but there still is a lot to like with this young hurler, even as a starting pitcher.

* Zack Greinke has rightly been the talk of baseball for his pitching exploits this season, but as his performance has slowly begun to recede, those of another young hurler has improved to the point where a direct one-on-one comparison doesn't seem ludicrous. Here are the two righty hurlers in a straight up comparison.

Greinke: 1.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 8.90 K/9, 7.78 H/9,
Pitcher: 2.54 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 8.78 K/9, 8.78 H/9

OK, so you are thinking those numbers aren't really that close other than the K-mark. However, what happens if we remove the month of April from the two hurlers? Here is what we come up with.

Greinke: 2.61 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 7.94 K/9, 8.62 H/9
Pitcher: 2.61 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 8.41 K/9, 8.17 H/9

That's pretty close isn't it? Who is this mystery man? He hurls the ball for the Mariners and is none other than 23-year-old Felix Hernandez.

* Jeremy Guthrie, after a stretch of some terrible work on the hill, has reeled of a stretch of four-straight quality starts, though he is only 2-2 in that time. With a 5.11 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP he will have a hard time matching his performance the past two seasons in ERA (3.70 and 3.63) and WHIP (1.21 and 1.23).

Dan Haren has a lot to be excited about this season.
* The greatness that is Dan Haren has taken many forms. There is, of course, the obvious in that he leads the NL in ERA (2.19), all of baseball in WHIP (0.81), and he is sixth in strikeouts with 113. There is also the slightly less obvious, such as he leads baseball with a 7.53 K/BB mark. And then there is his historic pace. In the history of modern baseball, since 1900, how many seasons have been produced in which a pitcher has posted an ERA below 2.25, a K/BB mark of above 7.00 while allowing less than 7.50 base runners per nine innings while throwing 162 innings? There have been two - Greg Maddux in 1995 and Pedro Martinez in 2001. Yeah, this Haren kid has been pretty good alright.

* Kevin Millwood continues his superb season with a 2.64 ERA through 16 starts. For a man who posted a 5.12 ERA the past two years that's a pretty nice improvement wouldn't you say?

* Yet another example of why wins are so fickle. Here are the totals for two hurlers in June in ERA - Jorge De La Rosa (6.08) and Javier Vazquez (1.98). Who won more games? Well, from the lead in you obviously know its De La Rosa, who went 4-1 while Vazquez was merely 1-3.

* Maybe something is wrong with Johan Santana after all. In 34 starts last season Santana allowed five or more earned runs just one time. This season he has allowed five or more earned runs in three of his last five starts. In addition, after an amazing April that saw him post a 1.10 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP, Santana has become, dare we say it, a mere mortal. Check out the numbers - 4.39 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 7.79 K/9, 2.40 K/BB over 11 starts. To compare, here are the league average numbers of all NL pitchers so far this season - 4.25 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 6.96 K/9, 1.92 K/BB. That's right, Santana has barely been better than a league-average pitcher the past two months.

* Francisco Rodriguez is on pace for yet another 40-save season, his fifth straight, which would be an all-time record (he is currently tied with two four-year stretches by Trevor Hoffman - 1998-2001 and 2004-07 - for the record). However, all may not be well with K-Rod. His current K/9 mark of 9.57 is certainly formidable, but it would be the worst mark of his career. In addition, his BB/9, already a dangerously high 4.05 for his career, has taken a quantum leap in awfulness this season up to 5.40. That means his K/BB of 1.77 is not only a career worse, it is actually more than a full point below his career 2.85 mark. Throw in the fact that his current BABIP is just .228, well below his career .279 rate, and it's patently obvious that choosing to sell high at this point might not be a bad idea.

* There are a whole host of relievers who have been nearly perfect this season in converting save chances. Here is the list of all relievers who have blown just one save while piling up at least 18 of them.

Heath Bell - 22 saves
Mariano Rivera - 19 saves
Huston Street - 19 saves
Francisco Cordero - 18 saves
Ryan Franklin - 18 saves
Trevor Hoffman - 18 saves

The major league leader for save conversions without blowing even one chance? That would be the Tigers' Fernando Rodney who is perfect in 17 chances. The odd part about that? Of the 16 men who have saved at least 17 games Rodney has the second worst ERA (4.36) and the second worst WHIP (1.39) of the group (Matt Capps "leads" in both categories with a 4.72 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP).

* Tim Wakefield is tied for the major league lead with 10 victories and he is 6-1 in his last 10 decisions. In addition, his 4.18 ERA is better than the 4.35 mark of teammate Jon Lester, while his WHIP of 1.36 outpaces the work of Cliff Lee 1.37.

BASEBALL

FOOTBALL

HOCKEY

BASKETBALL

GOLF

RACING

OWNER'S EDGE

About Us | Advertise With Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Customer Service

FUN Sports Network Partners: CDMSports.com | Rototimes.com | TQStats.com | FantasyCup.com

© 2004 - 2009 CDM Fantasy Sports Corp. dba Fanball, A FUN Technologies Company. All Rights Reserved