Thursday, May 1, 2008
April Grades
The Pitchers
As I have in previous years, I am go
So, let's take a look at the players and
see how they did in the season's first month:
THE PITCHERS
THE STARTERS
NICK BLACKBURN
(6 starts, 38.1 Innings Pitched, 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA, 6 walks, 19 strikeouts, 1.38 WHIP, .315 Opponent Average, 4.5 K/9)
The rookie is making Baseball America look pretty good right about now. Livan was brought on to eat innings, but through the first month, it is Blackburn who leads the team in innings pitched. He's got solid numbers although clearly he is quite hittable and the walk rater is low. May not bode well for future results, but for April, he deserves a very solid grade.
April Grade: A-
BOOF BONSER
(6 Starts, 36.0 Innings, 2-4 with a 3.75 ERA, 9 walks, 22 strikeouts, 1.22 WHIP, .250 Opponent Average, 5.5 K/9)
Five out of six of his starts were Quality starts. Good strikeout to walk ratio, although the strikeouts were down significantly from last April for the big righty. He is throwing above average and yet you can see there are a couple of areas where it appears that he could continue to improve. His batting average against is down almost .100 compared to last April.
April Grade: B+
SCOTT BAKER
(5 Starts, 30.0 Innings Pitched, 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA, 5 walk, 27 strikeouts, 1.17 WHIP, .256 Opponent Average, 8.1 K/9)
Baker has been quite solid. He is averaging six innings per start despite missing a bunch of spring training and having a short final outing due to a groin injury, that appears to be OK. The ERA is a little bit high, but he's had a very good WHIP and a very good opponent batting average. The five to 27 walk to strikeout rate is really good, and he is certainly getting his share of strikeouts this year so far.
April Grade: C+
LIVAN HERNANDEZ
(6 Starts, 35.2 Innings Pitched, 3-1 with a 5.05 ERA, 7 walks, 13 strikeouts, 1.46 WHIP, .310 Opponent Average, 3.4 K/9)
The first three starts were great. The next two starts were not too good. His last start, last Sunday, was horrifying. Hernandez has again been very hittable and doesn't strike many out at all. His number relect that he wasn't good for the month, He has been adequate in terms of inning completion, but at less than six innings per starter, he hasn't been great. Obviously a 3-1 start isn't bad.
April Grade: B
FRANCISCO LIRIANO
(3 Starts, 10.1 Innings Pitched, 0-3 with a 11.32 ERA. 13 walk, 7 strikeouts, 2.71 WHIP, .366 Opponent Average, 6.1 K/9)
So far, Silva has shown that Sp
April Grade: B-
KEVIN SLOWEY
(1 Starts, 3.1 Innings Pitched, 0-1 with a 8.10 ERA, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 1.20 WHIP, .286 Opponent Average, 5.4 K/9)
Johan is never great in April. A
April Grade: B
THE BULLPEN
(With the bullpen, I have been struggling with what these typical numbers mean. I think some of the numbers are important, but not all. Inherited Runners affect ERA, but not always in a good way. So ERA is meaningless with this few innings. So, what I did is went through the box scores and game logs of the Twins 25 April games and gave each reliever in each game a plus (for a positive outing) or a minus (for a negative outing). I am going to introduce a stat for this report just called Reliever Efficiency. It is simply a measure of quality relief efforts to total relief efforts. If this formula were to be more publicized, I think it would be good, but I think that there are a lot of variables about what constitutes a quality relief outing. How do Inherited runners affect that. How about a shutout inning with two hits and a walk? Is that a quality outing? How about a guy who, in a game where the Twins got down early provided 4 innings of two run ball to eat up innings? How about recording a save, but giving up two runs? Dennys Reyes is really the guy that made me think about this topic. He had the one game that jumped his ERA to something like 15.00. Because of limited innings, it takes forever for his ERA to drop to a respectable level. But, if he just continues to get the job done when he continues to be asked to, that number comes down eventually. The definition of "Quality Relief Appearance" is up for debate, but for today, I just did this with my opinions. This sounds like a posting all to its own, but that may be for another day, so you'll just have to go with my opinions.
BRIAN BASS
(7 Games, 17.1 Innings Pitched, 0-0 with 1 save, with a 4.67 ERA, 6 walk, 8 strikeouts, 1.56 WHIP, .288 Opponent Average, 4.2 K/9)
Glen Perkins shou.
April Grade: C-
JESSE CRAIN
(7 Games, 8.1 Innings Pitched, 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts, 1.20 WHIP, Opponent Average .226, 7.6 K/9)
Crain's 'Reliever Efficiency' was 60% for Ap.
April Grade: D
MATT GUERRIER
(11 Games, 14.1 Innings Pitched, 1-1, 4.40 ERA, 6 walks, 8 strikeouts, 1.60 WHIP, .288 Opponent Average, 5.0 K/9)
Guerrier's Reliever Efficiency was 80%. Eig.
April Grade: B+
BOBBY KORECKY
(2 Games, 2.2 Innings Pitched, 0-0, 3.38 ERA, 3 walks, 1 strikeouts, 1.88 WHIP, .250 Opponent Average, 3.4 K/9)
Joe Nathan's Reliever Efficien.
April Grade: C+
JOE NATHAN
(11 Games, 11.0 Innings Pitched, 0-0 with a 0.82 ERA, 9 Saves in 9 Chances, 2 walk, 11 strikeouts, 1.00 WHIP, .220 Opponent Average, 9.0 K/9)
Joe Nathan's Reliever Efficiency for April w.
April Grade: C+
PAT NESHEK
(13 Games, 12 Innings Pitched, 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA, 3 walk, 13 strikeouts, 1.00 WHIP, .209 Opponent Average, 9.8 K/9)
Neshek's Reliever Efficie.
April Grade: A-
DENNIS REYES
(12 Game, 9.0 Innings Pitched, 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 0.67 WHIP, .143 Opponent Average, 5.0 K/9)
So, is his April performance an anom.
April Grade: F
JUAN RINCON
(9 Games, 9.1 Innings Pitched, 2-1 with a 4.82 ERA, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts, 1.29 WHIP, .243 Opponent Average, 8.7 K/9)
Juan Rincon real.
April Grade: B+
yed it! Have a great Saturday!
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