The Roto Riteup would like to remind you to stay hydrated:
The perks of #snowbaseball. pic.twitter.com/wcZbVp3zwi
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) April 5, 2018
While many pondered the potential outcomes when deciding on taking Ken Giles in preseason drafts and auctions, Brad Peacock emerged as a popular target in the later rounds. In spite of his transition to the bullpen to start the year, Peacock’s 13 wins, 29.5 strikeout percentage and 161 strikeouts over 132 innings in 2017 made him an interesting pitcher to pair with Charlie Morton or an upside arm to deploy as a reliever with starting pitcher eligibility in leagues which use designations. After two strong innings on Wednesday, the Astros opted to leave Peacock in for three innings and the win rather than adhere to standard procedure by using their closer, Ken Giles to secure the last three outs against the Orioles.
There’s not reason for panic by Giles owners, yet at least, since leaving Peacock, while in a rhythm, translated into him retiring nine of the 11 hitters he faced. Peacock whiffed five of them, allowed two hits and issued zero walks. All told, Peacock threw 39 pitches in three innings generating 12 swinging strikes (30.8 swinging strike percentage in the appearance) and notching his, and Houston’s first save of the season. A.J. Hinch proved last postseason he would not be averse to using pitchers in roles outside the popular think box to close out games with Lance McCullers Jr. taking over high leverage last October. It’s a marathon of a season and Giles owners have reason to be upset, but it’s not time to panic, yet. Houston’s powerful offense could also cut into potential save chances as the year progresses, so Giles owners need to plan accordingly. Read the rest of this entry »
Why wait for another edition of the Sporer Report? Y’all seemed to enjoy it and even commented some names you’d like to see covered so I’ve included a couple of those. Sorry about the GIFs in yesterday’s being wonky for some. I didn’t realize that host was ad-laden. Today’s won’t be so cumbersome.
Not included: Jakob Junis
The reason is two-fold. One is that I already dropped some thoughts on him just before the season started and two is that Jeff Sullivan covered him in detail today. I’m obviously pleased with the start he had on Tuesday and still considering him one to watch and at least stream in most formats.
Tyler Mahle (68% owned at FanTrax)
I watched his game for the 2nd when he beat the Cubs by going 6 IP, 0 Runs, and 7 K’s. Mahle and the opposing pitcher, Tyler Chatwood, did have generous wide strike zone to work with.
Each week through the season, I’ll be looking at the collection of starting pitchers owned in under 15% of leagues (consensus Yahoo/ESPN ownership from Fantasy pros) and pointing out the options to consider if you need an extra arm or two at the end of your staff.
It’s a weird first week of Fantasy Baseball, and there are already plenty of intriguing choices on your wire. Let’s highlight my ten favorites.
Kyle Gibson (Minnesota Twins) – It still feels a little weird endorsing Gibson, but after a solid eight-game stretch to close out the 2017 season, Gibson continued his fantastic swing-and-miss ways, earning 16 whiffs in his start weekend start against the Orioles. While we should note the free-swinging the Baltimore lineup, inducing not a single hit paired with missing bats should dictate a pickup in the short term.
We are not quite a week into the 2018 season, but as far as surprising stories go, Kenley Jansen being one of the shakiest closers has to be at the top of the list. On Tuesday night, the Dodgers dropped to 2-4, as Zack Godley outdueled Clayton Kershaw, and Jansen got the night off. The Diamondbacks opened up their lead in the seventh inning against Scott Alexander, and with the Dodgers failing to rally, there was no need for Dave Roberts to call on his closer. We will have to wait at least another day for Jansen to reassure his fantasy owners.
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First Kenley Jansen then Clayton Kershaw. Alex Wood and Rich Hill too. It seems like the Dodgers are passing around a bad case of Velocity Deficiency Syndrome. Only Kenta Maeda is throwing harder…
AGENDA
Yesterday, I took an early dive into leaguewide statistical trends on the hitting side. Obviously, it would be silly to evaluate hitters already, but not so for the league as a whole. Today, I switch over to the pitcher side. Since many of the metrics we would normally discuss are the same as for hitters that were discussed yesterday, let’s talk about pitch usage and plate discipline stats. Unlike yesterday when I was able to compare this season to just March/April of the previous four seasons, the Splits Leaderboard doesn’t give me the metrics I need. So rather than make more work for myself, all previous seasons are full season stats. Aside from velocities, it shouldn’t matter.
Here at the Roto Riteup, we enjoy bling:
❄?❄?❄?❄?❄?❄? pic.twitter.com/vY8zSgZgIT
— Lance McCullers Jr. (@LMcCullers43) April 4, 2018
It’s not easy to get strikeouts when you don’t get batters to swing much. It’s even more difficult when you avoid the strike zone.
Over the previous three years, a qualified starting pitcher has induced swings at a rate lower than 44.0 percent over the course of a season only 23 times. Of those, only Trevor Bauer, Jose Quintana and Tyson Ross have had a single season with a strikeout rate of at least 24.0 percent, and none has had more than one season with a rate that high. By contrast, there were only seven occurrences of a strikeout rate below 24.0 percent among the 23 pitcher-seasons with the highest swing rates over the same period. Bauer and Quintana both elevated their K-rates last season, and they were able to do that partly because they located their pitches in the strike zone at near-normal rates of 44.4 and 44.8 percent rates, respectively. Ross registered a 25.8 percent K-rate in 2015, even though he induced swings infrequently and displayed subpar control. However, no qualified starter was better than Ross at getting whiffs on pitches outside the strike zone that season.
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