After last night pitching yet another gem, going 7 innings, allowing one run, striking out eight, walking just one, while going 2-2 with a double and a homer (.286 on the season), I got to wondering - is there a better starting pitcher than Dan Haren in baseball? And why do we never hear about him as much as the other big names? He has a .81 WHIP in 115 innings as a starter so far this year, that is absolutely insane.
Zack Greinke: 1.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 6.3 K/BB
Dan Haren: 2.19 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 7.5 K/BB
Tim Lincecum: 2.37 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 4.7 K/BB
Felix Hernandez:2.54 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 3.3 K/BB
Roy Halladay: 2.56 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, 6.8 K/BB
Matt Cain: 2.57 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 7.5 K/9, 2.1 K/BB
Jered Weaver: 2.65 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 7.3 K/9, 2.6 K/BB
Josh Johnson: 2.76 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 7.6 K/9, 3.4 K/BB
Yovani Gallardo:2.86 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 2.3 K/BB
Javier Vazquez: 3.04 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 5.4 K/BB
Johan Santana: 3.34 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 3.1 K/BB
Justin Verlander:3.4 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 10.8 K/9, 3.7 K/BB
Josh Beckett: 3.48 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 8.6 K/9, 2.9 K/BB
CC Sabathia: 3.55 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 6.44 K/9, 2.5 K/BB
That is a pretty good lineup of insanely good pitching performances so far this year. I even excluded a number of guys with sparkling ERAs since I am fully confident they are flukes - Edwin Jackson, Kevin Milwood, Jair Jurjjens, Johnny Cueto, Zack Duke, Doug Davis, Nick Blackburn, Joel Piniero to name a bunch. I prefer K/9 and K/BB to the traditional counting statistics because it shows how efficient pitchers are performing, while there is something to be said about eating up innings, for the most part these guys are doing a fairly similar job in IP per start.
Tim Lincecum holds the major league lead with 132 strikeouts, Javier Vazquez is next with 125 strikeouts, ahead of Justin Verlander with 124.
I believe Roy Halladay, 10-2, and Zaxk Greinke, 10-3, are the only pitchers with double-digit wins so far, Matt Cain, Chad Billingsley, Johan Santana and Josh Beckett each have 9.
Interestingly, while Haren has been the best pitcher so far, with a quality start in 15/16 starts, he is only 7-5... and that's after his win last night. A quality start is awarded when a pitcher goes at least 6 innings allowing 3 runs or fewer. Haren leads the majors in Quality Start percentage at 94%. Josh Johnson is next with an 88% (14 QS in 16 starts). Billingsley is 14/17, Lincecum and Greinke are each 13/16, Cliff Lee 13/17.
Alright, so there are a bunch of stats with Haren probably grading out the best, then Greinke, then Halladay, then Vazquez, then Lincecum, then Verlander. But who would you take if you had to win just one game? Would it be Haren? I dare say based on this season's performance (not to mention pitching in a hitter's park), I would take Haren. Roy Halladay, however, has done it for so long now, that I would probably take him, gun to the head. My third choice would probably be Lincecum...and I probably wouldn't take Greinke, Vazquez or Verlander before Johan or CC.
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I have to stick with the NL and go with Lincecum if its based on this year. That might change if the game is in the AL where there is a DH (garbage).
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the American League starting pitcher for the all-star game 10-3 TIM WAKEFIELD! He's 42 and will live forever, eat your heart out Zack Greinke. I'd be depressed too if I was pitching in Kansas City.
ReplyDeleteNice catch on the 10-3 Wakefield. Now I see that Jason Marquis and Kevin Slowey also have 10 wins. I like Slowey a lot, he doesn't walk anyone and can get some K's..Marquis meanwhile is doing it with complete smoke and mirrors. This is why I didn't include W/L records though. We certainly get a clearer picture of who the best pictures actually are but not looking at that first.
ReplyDelete..CC's K/9 rate is garbage. Either he's going to start K'ing more people and might become the best pitcher in baseball the rest of the way, or we are going to see him begin to struggle...I really have no clue which way it'll go, but I'd lean towards him being the best in baseball.
jurrjens isnt a fluke. he doesnt get any run support. he does walk people, but he gets grounballs and and gets out of jams. another good game from him last night.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to say any of those guys are necessarily bad...just that I expect their ERA's to go up..for some of them just a tick, for some of them it will end around 5. Jurrjens can get ground balls, which is always a good thing, I think at some point his walks will cost him, but true that his ground ball style will often get him out of jams. We will see with most of those guys...
ReplyDeletei agree, walks will kill you eventually. they have hactually hurt him. he walks a guy and gives up one run and we lose 1-0 cause we cant score half the time. what about your boy kelly johnson? you had high hopes for him this year in your projections, but its about time prado got in there. you can see the difference the last 2 games. you have to ride his bat while hes hot.
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