Stats With Steven: bbFIP Update for May 17th

It would be hard to find someone who wouldn’t considering the pitching the Angels have trotted out on the field a mess. Be it rotation or bullpen, the quality of pitching the Angels have received has been abysmal for a team that went into the season as a post-season and divisional crown contender. On the season the Angels rank 26^th in bbFIP as a team, and when broken down by rotation and bullpen they rank 24^th in both categories.

That’s right, I got this. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

The top 3 performers in the young season have been Dane de la Rosa, Ernesto Frieri, and Scott Downs.

Breaking Down The Top Three:

Dane de la Rosa’s success largely comes off his terrific 57.1% groundball rate, being combined with a low linedrive rate and above average strikeout and walk rates. Will his success continue though? That I am not so sure about, though I thoroughly liked the acquisition of de la Rosa when it was made prior to the season.

Ernesto Frieri continues his success from last season in a very similar manor. Lots of strikeouts and few line drives. Many flyballs, over 50% of balls in play, though in Angel Stadium, with that outfield defense isn’t much of an issue.

Good old reliable Scott Downs has the 3^rd best bbFIP on the Angels. An incredible 49.1% of his plate appearances end in a groundball. A fair number of linedrives, bring down his bbFIP that would otherwise would be terrific. An interesting fact, Scott Downs hasn’t induced a popup since June 29^th, 2011.

On the flip side, Mark Lowe , Jered Weaver and Joe Blanton have clearly been the worst. Lowe due to walking the ballpark, Weaver due to increased walk and decreased strikeout rate and Blanton is giving up linedrives at an increased rate, combined with a drastically reduced strikeout rate.

All statistics are through Sunday, May 12, 2013. All data is from fangraphs.