Why Evaluating Starts Can Be Hard
In the bottom of the sixth inning yesterday afternoon, the Twins had one on and one out against Luke French and Delmon Young at the plate. Young fouled off five pitches and wound up behind 1-2 in the count when he got an offspeed pitch and hit it into left for a double. Doubles are bad. However:
"It was right where I wanted it,'' French said of the pitch. "It was right where Rob (Johnson) wanted it. Rob called a good game and sometimes you've got to tip your hat. He hit it and sometimes that happens.''
Everyone knows that sometimes good pitches get hit and bad pitches don't, but it's good to have a reminder every so often of just how little control a pitcher can actually have over a game. Things even out given a sufficiently broad amount of time, of course, but in small samples like individual starts, just basing your evaluation off raw numbers can be misleading. Consider this pitch. Consider that game Ryan Feierabend had against the Red Sox a few years ago where every ball in play was hit to the warning track. Pitchers are hard to figure out over full seasons. Over single starts, it is sometimes a nigh-impossible task.
[Be you warned, for here there be .gif(s)]
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Matt Garza is still better though, right?
by Edgar for Pres on Aug 2, 2010 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions
I think Bartlett's 09 season alone made this a net positive for TB
De Gutibus non disputandum est
by Bearskin Rugburn on Aug 2, 2010 2:06 PM PDT up reply actions
The Rays just didn't need Young though, and both Garza and Bartlett were major contributors to a World Series appearance for them
I’d say they still come out just fine in that trade
I don't disagree, it's just not the fleecing it appeared to be when Young was complete ass
His contact skills are right up there with Ichiro’s now (not quite as good, but close) with more power. He’s not close to the defender or baserunner Ichiro is obviously, but his bat alone is probably good enough to make him a star, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he won a batting title or two before his career is over. I just love the thought of that happening after he was pretty much written off by everyone as exhibit A for busted prospects. The Twins almost relegated him to a utility role not to long ago. Baseball!
He's hitting .335 now...that's not very far-fetched.
What blows my mind is that he’s hitting .437 with RISP.
No, on 2nd thought, what blows my mind is the math in his RBI totals.
April: 9 RBIs
May: 18 RBIs
June: 24 RBIs
July: 30 RBIs
Each month he increases on the previous month’s RBI total by a nice, round number divisible by 3. My guess is he gets 36 in September! Or, maybe not…anyway… geeky…

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