First Half Report Card: The Pitchers

The pitchers turn.

Roy Halladay:A+: Is there anything new that can be said about Doc? Until his injury he hadn't gone less than 7 innings in a game. He is 2^nd among AL pitchers in VORP at 37.0, likely without the couple of starts missed to injury he'd be 1^st. His BABIP is a little high, .305, so he is having a little bad luck on balls in play. He's striking out almost 8 per 9 innings.  All his splits are good, he's as good against lefties as he is against righties. Doesn't give up many home runs. You guys know he's great, it is either him or Zack Greinke for All-Star game starter.

The rest of the pitchers are after the jump.

Brian Tallet: B: Who expected him to be this good as a starter? He has had a few bad starts but then he was a reliever at the start of the season, can't expect the transition to be seamless. He has actually done better against right-handed hitters (.634 OPS) than left-handers (.869 OPS). He is striking out 6.75/9 innings. He walks a few too many, 4.28/9 innings. He has had a bit of luck on balls in play with a .258 BABIP. I am not sure we can hope he continues to pitch like he has but he's been just what we needed with all the injuries.

Scott Richmond: A-: Our token Canadian, he's improved a lot this season. Is getting lucky on BABIP, .246 (or perhaps it is our great defence that turns everything into outs. He has improved against left-handed batters a little (.878 OPS) but still have a longs ways to go, he's great against right-handers (.527 OPS). He is striking out 7.49/9 innings, but is walking a few more than last season (3.16/9). It is hard to complain about a guy that has a 3.69 ERA, who wasn't even in a major league system two years ago.

Ricky Romero: A: How does this happen? How does a guy go from poster child for how lousy JP Riccardi is at drafting to a solid Rookie of the Year candidate in 3 months? Striking out 7.5 a game while walking less than 3 a game has some to do with it. If it wasn't for those couple of poor starts after he came off the DL he'd be out performing Doc and that's not easy to do. He hasn't been overly lucky on balls in play (.291 BABIP) so I can see him continuing to pitch like he has the rest of the season or even getting better.

Jesse Carlson: D-:  He had a great April, less good May but then 8 of his 12 earned runs came in one appearance. In June he's only allowed more than 1 earned run in 1 appearance. He's actually been worse against left-handers than right-handers. I did wonder, last year, if some of his effectiveness was how he hid the ball and that if batters saw him enough they would get used to him. Maybe that's happened.

Brandon League: D-: Had a terrible June, 7.90 ERA.  Seems to me he has so much movement on his pitches that he can't keep them over the plate. If they aren't chased he has to take something off them to hit the strike zone and then he's hit hard.  Still is striking out a batter an inning and is throwing very hard. He was great last year and on any given day, can be great this year.

Shawn Camp: C: Was good in April, poor in May and good again in June. He's pitched multiple innings (up to 4) a number of times. He's actually been doing better vs LHB (.622 OPS) then RHB (.850 OPS). Likely explained by small sample size. I'm really not a fan but he's been doing a good job in long relief and I think that the spot for him.

Jason Frasor: A: He's had one bad game this season.  Other than that day in Atlanta he's given up 2 earned runs. For a guy no one had any faith in last year, he has been amazing. He's been great against RHB and good against lefties. I like him better as a setup man but mostly because that would mean that Downs was back.

Scott Downs: A: He has given up runs in just 2 appearances. His WHIP is .878 and is striking out a batter an inning. He's been great for the last 3 seasons and with any luck at all he'll continue to be great. He doesn't walk people, he doesn't give up homers. He's just great. He's been better against RHB than LHB but that's likely a sample size thing. I hope he's back soon.

B.J. Ryan: F+:  I know people aren't going to want to hear this but he's been quite good for the last month, 1 earned run in June. Too many walks still. I wouldn't mind seeing him move up to a LOOGY role on the team.

We'll give the dozen or so other guys that have pitched for us this season an incomplete. Some have done well like Hayhurst and Accardo. Some have done far less well Purcey, Janssen, Mills, Burris but then none of them have had a enough innings to give them a grade. 

We’ll give the dozen or so other guys that have pitched for us this season an incomplete. Some have done well like Hayhurst and Accardo. Some have done far less well Purcey, Janssen, Mills, Burris but then none of them have had a enough innings to give them a grade. 

I was going to grade Cito and JP here but really it tough to call. JP deserves great credit for having so many major league ready arms available. But then we still have the issue from last year where he signs guys that where good years ago and hopes they find the fountain of youth. Millar seems like this year's Wilkerson. He was smart enough not to replace Scoot with someone overpaid. 

Cito? Well the team is over .500 with roughly 45 injured pitchers. He is, apparently, a great batting coach but if he is so good, why can't he fix Wells and Rios. Why can't he get Barajas to be more consistent. He drives me crazy, constantly with his in-game moves. But likely they haven't cost us much. Having just finished reading about Casey Stengel, it's obvious to me that managers can make too many moves as easy as too few. No manager is perfect. 

So let's not grade either of them for the moment and see how the season unfolds.