Just a short post today as I peruse various stats:
- Last night’s 8-4 win over the Dodgers was the first game the Tigers have won by more than two runs since May 8th.
- With Pudge’s 4 for 5 night he appears to be returning to the Pudge of old – with one exception – he’s still not walking. His last walk came on May 17th, and that was intentional. His last non-intentional walk was May 6th.
- Nate Robertson once again walked more hitters than he struck-out. He now has 32 walks against 30 strikeouts. Using the Day by Day Database one can see Nate is one of only 9 pitchers in the majors to pitch at least 50 innings this year and offer more free passes than K’s. That is part of what makes his 3.48 ERA so surprising. The overall ERA among these 9 pitchers is 5.10. Surprisingly, Nate’s ERA isn’t even the best among the group. Tomo Ohka’s 3.33 is tops among the group.
- So who is has struckout more than any other Tiger this year? Suprisingly Brandon Inge with 51. Carlos Pena is second with 41 and Dmitri Young is 3rd at 40.
- Of course Inge also leads the team in walks with 30, and is once again followed by Pena with 21 and then Craig Monroe at 20.
- Speaking of Craig Monroe’s walks, he walked once every 16.7 plate apperances his first two seasons. This year he’s walking once every 10.6. He’s also striking out less with a K every 7.6 PA’s this year against once every 5.6 his first two years.
- There has been discussion that the Tigers aren’t doing a good job of driving runners home. This is only partially true. The Tigers are actually pretty average with runners on base. They are hitting 290/347/434 with runners on base, and the resulting OPS ranks them tied for 7th in the AL. Essentially they are average. The problem is that the Tigers haven’t had enough at-bats with runners on base in the first place. In terms of at-bats with runners on, the Tigers rank 11th in the AL.
- This means nothing, but the Tigers are 13th out of 14 teams in being hit by a pitch.
- However if you combine that with the fact the Tigers are 12th in walks, and 13th in non-intentional walks and it’s pretty clear that if the Tigers aren’t hitting, they aren’t getting on base.
So who is has struckout more than any other Tiger this year? Suprisingly Brandon Inge with 51. Carlos Pena is second with 41 and Dmitri Young is 3rd at 40.
That’s the first time I’ve seen you use an obviously misleading stat…
Inge has 250 PAs. Young has 223. Pena has just 150. Extrapolating out to 250 PAs, Pena would lead easily at 68 Ks. Young would be a little closer to Inge with 44 Ks.
Interesting analysis on Robertson. Do you suppose he’s having the same run of good luck that Cornejo had when his K/9 first took a nosedive? If i remember correctly, it ended up catching up to him.
There was no intention to mislead, just stating something that I found surprising. Just like I found it surprising that Lou Whitaker is the all time Tiger leader in strikeouts. But yes, Carlos Pena is much more prone to striking out than Brandon Inge, and the bulk of the league for that matter.
As for Robertson, I’ve been leary of his success all season long. First, his dip in velocity worries me, as does the drop in strikeouts. His ERA is deceptive because he’s allowed quite a few unearned runs – the result of guys putting the ball in play with runners on base. Cornejo at least had a pretty good walk rate, where Robertson’s is high. Both benefitted from allowing a disproportionately low amount of home runs. Robertson’s 2005 is actually remarkably similar to Cornejo’s 2003 and probably warrants it’s own post comparing the two.
– That kind of stuff (basement-level K rate, more walks than K’s) almost always catches up with a pitcher. As Billfer mentioned, the saving grace in both cases was/is an apparent ability to keep the ball in the park, but that does little to hide the fact that too many hitters are either given a free pass or are allowed to put the ball in play.
– You cant drive people in if they aint on base in the first place. (That’s the way Billfer would have phrased it if he was from down here in NC, y’all.) The Tigs are 10th in the AL in OBA. They are an aggressive team at the dish that strikes out too much to be more than just moderately successful with that approach.
There was no intention to mislead, just stating something that I found surprising.
Of course. You’ve always been unbiased, so I don’t doubt your intentions at all. It just had to say something because it would be a disservice to Inge if anyone got the impression that he strikes out more than Pena.
Did they ever figure out what happened to Cornejo’s velocity? Was that related to his 2004 injury?