Trivia time: who are these pitchers?
Posted by Andy on September 3, 2010
Pitcher A: 13-1 record, 101.1 IP, 1.15 ERA
Pitcher B: 4-5 record, 83 IP, 4.55 ERA
Click through for the answers.Both are Ubaldo Jimenez. Pitcher A was his performance from the start of the season through his June 17th start against the Twins. Pitcher B was his performance since then, starting with his June 23rd game against the Red Sox and continuing through his Sept 1 game against the Giants.
What's interesting is that a lot of his peripherals haven't changed. Keeping the same time periods:
Pitcher A: 5.8 H/9, 7.8 K/9, 3.2 BB/9
Pitcher B: 7.5 H/9, 8.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9
So he's allowed about 35% more hits, and his K's and BB's are both up in the neighborhood of 15-20%.
Neil pointed out that it's his BAbip that his really changed, up from .245 to .299. This is consistent with the increase in hits.
September 3rd, 2010 at 8:25 am
I think something was wrong with this post. The pitcher names were not concealed when I opened the blog page. Interesting stuff, though.
September 3rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
Hits, Ks and BBs all up. I wonder what his pitch counts look like. And I wonder if that's part of what's made the difference.
September 3rd, 2010 at 6:05 pm
While his strikeout and walk per 9 rates are up, he isn't actually striking out or walking people at a higher rate. He's just facing more batters per inning because they're reaching more often. On a per plate appearance basis, he's been pretty consistent in those stats.
September 4th, 2010 at 6:22 am
I guess it stands to reason he couldn't maintain the pace he was on the first half. If I showed you a guy who's 17-6 with a 2.69 ERA you'd say he's having a great season. Yet it almost seems an anti-climax given the start Jimenez had.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:30 am
He's having to throw his splitter more for strikes since the league is looking for it now. That means if he misses with the splitter and they don't swing, it's a ball. But his fastball has enough movement to strike people out swinging and his arm speed is the same on every pitch which makes his change-up better. When he gets behind in the count he throws his four seamer which is straighter than the two seamer but easier to hit if he can't "spot" and misses over the plate with it. He needs one more good pitch or to change speeds a little more.