It’s Not Just a Year for the Pitchers
July 6, 2010 by Bill Gilbert · Leave a Comment
A lot has been written this year about the resurgence in domination by pitchers. It’s true that it has been a good year for pitchers but hitters have not completely disappeared although it may seem that way when a player like Omar Infante is selected for the All-Star Game.
Last year, only 5 players batted over .300 with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. At the midway point of the season this year, eight players are on target for these numbers and several others are very close.
On-Target BAVG-HR-RBI --------------------- -------------------- Miguel Cabrera .339-20-69 Josh Hamilton .339-20-61 Albert Pujols .305-20-60 Joey Votto .312-19-57 Not yet selected for All-Star Game. Vladimir Guerrero .330-18-70 Justin Morneau .344-17-55 Scott Rolen .302-17-56 Robinson Cano .343-16-55
Close -------------------- Paul Konerko .296-20-57 Kevin Youkilis .299-17-54 David Wright .315-14-64
In addition, several players are having surprisingly strong seasons with an OPS (On-base percentage plus Slugging Average) more than 100 points above their career average.
Player Career OPS 2010 OPS Difference ------------------ -------------- -------------- ------------- Miguel Olivo .716 .901 .185 Nelson Cruz .825 .989 .164 Jose Bautista .752 .892 .140 Adrian Beltre .786 .926 .140 Rafael Furcal .762 .888 .126 Andres Torres .731 .845 .114 Corey Hart .811 .922 .111 John Buck .717 .820 .103
With the resurgence in pitching, some noteworthy numbers are also being recorded by pitchers. Typically, one or two pitchers might record 20 wins, 200 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00 in a season. Last year, no pitchers achieved all three of these targets and the only pitcher to do it in the last four years is Roy Halladay in 2008.
Three pitchers are on target to reach these numbers this year and three others are close. The last time that more than 2 pitchers reached all three was 1974 when 4 pitchers did it (Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan and Andy Messersmith).
On Target -------------- Pitcher ERA-W-Strikeouts ----------- ------------------------ Ubaldo Jimenez 2.27-14-107 Adam Wainwright 2.24-12-123 Jon Lester 2.76-10-118
Close --------------- David Price 2.42-11-90 Roy Halladay 2.42- 9-112 Mat Latos 2.82- 9-91
It will be interesting to see how many of these players can maintain their high level of performance for the full season.
