Our Pitchers vs. non-AL East opposition

by Woodman663 on Apr 15, 2010 9:07 PM EDT

Have you ever wondered what playing in the AL Central (or AL West for that matter) would be like, playing less games against that awfully strong AL East opposition? I sure have, and so I thought it would be fun to construct some splits for some of our starting pitchers to see how much better they do against non-AL East opposition. I'm listing their strikeout and walk ratios as well as their batted ball types. Power is much more a function of a batter's quality, but it should be obvious that pitching in the AL East also doesn't help with limiting your home runs allowed because there are so many powerful hitters around.

Ricky Romero

vs non-AL East: 7.55 K/9, 3.13 BB/9, 1.33 GO/AO (103.2 IP)

versus AL East: 7.94 K/9, 5.33 BB/9, 1.25 GO/AO (79.1 IP)

A few more strikeouts against the AL East, but many, many more walks, and a bit worse groundball percentage. A clear difference.

Jesse Litsch

vs non-AL East: 4.65 K/9, 1.69 BB/9, 0.95 GO/AO (164.2 IP)

versus AL East: 4.58 K/9. 2.87 BB/9, 0.97 GO/AO (141.1 IP)

The AL East (and I think for a large part the Red Sox) destroys Litsch's strong point: the ability to limit the free passes.

Shaun Marcum (2007-2010, not counting relief outings)

vs non-AL East: 6.85 K/9, 2.28 BB/9, 0.74 GO/AO (201 IP)

versus AL East: 6.94 K/9, 3.55 BB/9, 0.70 GO/AO (106.1 IP)

Once again, walk rate a lot higher against the AL East. Weird how Marcum has a much lower percentage of innings pitched versus AL East opponents than Litsch and Romero.

Brett Cecil

vs non-AL East: 6.38 K/9, 2.29 BB/9, 0.99 GO/AO (55 IP)

versus AL East: 7.23 K/9, 5.79 BB/9, 0.55 GO/AO (37.1 IP)

This one is a bit too small a sample size I think, but it'll be interesting to see if Cecil can do better against AL East opponents when called up again.

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Comments

interesting, I would not necessarily have attributed higher walk rates to the AL East

by aagoodfella on Apr 16, 2010 2:26 PM EDT reply actions

why not?

the Yankees and Red Sox are two of the most patient teams in baseball, and also have had plenty of feared hitters over the past few years. Baltimore and Tampa’s pitchers probably issue more walks to AL East teams too.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Apr 16, 2010 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions

and of course, pitchers respect power and are more likely to walk a guy who is a real home run threat. And the Sox, Yanks and Rays all ave plenty of power.

by Woodman663 on Apr 16, 2010 7:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting

It’s funny though that just a short while ago (2 years?), everybody was complaining that the Jays could only beat AL East opponents, and that their downfall was that they could not beat the “lesser” opponents. I remember Doc saying that they got up for the games against the Yankees and Sox, and that they had to do the same against other opponents.

by REMO on Apr 16, 2010 3:36 PM EDT reply actions