Who Are Ya: Brandon McCarthy

Esmil Rogers and Brandon McCarthy battle in the desert today in a battle of pitchers with ERAs of 5.03. McCarthy, the 30-year-old right hander fan favourite mainly for his statistical awareness has had an unlucky season after being hit in the head last year with a line drive, which is a little unlucky as well when you think about it:

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While his ERA sits at 5.03, his FIP is 3.71 mainly due to a BABIP of .339 and a strand rate of 66.2%. While he doesn't strike anyone out (5.81 K/9), he also doesn't walk anyone (1.74 BB/9), a strategy which has worked for him in previous seasons. With a salary of only $5.25 million this season, it hasn't been too bad of an deal for either party.

McCarthy mainly features a sinker, curveball, and a cutter with an occasional changeup against left handed hitters. He definitely pitches to contact and rarely gets swings and misses with his stuff. He looks to try and minimize solid contact by throwing pitches with a lot of movement that is hard to square up for hitters:

You can see how McCarthy utilizes his cutter similar to how you would locate a slower slider. He tries to run it off the plate against right handers attempting to get bad contact to the right side of the diamond:

via www.fangraphs.com

TankFest 2013

Way too many wins this weekend has the Blue Jays sitting with the 9th pick for next year:

For the "Find the Link":

Find the link between Brandon McCarthy and a wanna be shortstop playing on the Pirates.

Enjoy the matinee. Relish the opportunity to watch Aaron Hill do his thing again!