Showing posts with label haren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label haren. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Best Starting Pitcher in Baseball?

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.