Hanrahan’s Altered Approach and Fantasy Implications
On Wednesday I explained why Joel Hanrahan is a bit undervalued in comparison to John Axford. The next step I decided to take is to evaluate Hanrahan’s fastball to elaborate on why his success last year should continue this season as well. After all, Hanrahan had 269 innings in his career before the 68.2 he threw last year. Standard thinking would force one to believe his 209 ERA+ season was an outlier, as his career ERA+ is just 106.
However, as I explained in the article earlier this week, Hanrahan altered his approach on the mound. He turned into a fastball dominant pitcher, moving away from the fastball-slider combination he had utilized for the majority of his career. At least some credit must be given to Ray Searage, the Pirates pitching coach, and the rest of the group that decided this would be a much more effective way for Hanrahan to pitch.
Hanrahan’s Heater | Freq. | MPH | Strike | Ball | BIP | Whiff | GB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Career | 68% | 96.11 | 61.65% | 37.13% | 17.29% | 6.78% | 7.67% |
2010 | 61% | 96.74 | 61.64% | 37.07% | 15.66% | 6.32% | 7.33% |
2011 | 83% | 97.82 | 63.62% | 34.97% | 19.88% | 7.72% | 10.18% |