Stats With Steven: bbFIP Update, June, 16th

Last time we looked at the Angels as a team, on May 17th, we found them ranked 26th in bbFIP, and since then they have climbed 5 spots to 21st in baseball. Since our last look at the Angels individually 10 days ago, Robert Coello has come back to earth and landed on the disabled list while Sean Burnett also finds himself out of commission. The Angels are 5-8 since the previous update, and embarrassingly found themselves swept by the lowly Astros in a 4 game series.

The first word that comes to mind when thinking of the Angels bullpen is usually, “inconsistent,” followed by “sickly,” and the Angels bbFIP leader screams of the former. Kevin Jepsen somewhat shockingly leads the Angels in bbFIP at 2.71. While Jason Vargas is the worst among pitchers with at least 12 innings pitched, at a 4.55 mark.

A few performers of note:

Kevin Jepsen has really impressed outside of the series with Oakland this season where he absolutely imploded. Jepsen has a 4:1 K/BB mark combined with a better than average line drive rate. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but his groundball rate has plummeted this season.

Dane De La Rosa has continued to be solid, with a very good ground ball rate and a very solid K/BB rate. Not quite sure why he has been shuttled up and down to be honest, but he’s been one of the better relievers.

Jered Weaver has come back from injury and has looked really good, posting a 15:2 K/BB since returning from his broken left arm. His improved bbFIP’s sustainability however, is completely dependent upon his absurd Popup rate that currently sits at 12%.

On the flip side, Jason Vargas’ poor bbFIP is due to a poor K/BB rate, as well as the copious amounts of linedrives hitters are getting against him. Conversely, Joe Blanton has gone from being one of the worst to one of the best Angels starters. Since May 12th, Blanton has a 36:3 K/BB in 35.1 IP a rate which is much closer to his career norms than where it was sitting at on May 12th. An interesting note on the volatility of Popup rate for pitchers, all 6 of Joe Blanton’s Popups have come since May 12th.

All statistics are current through June 15th, 2013. All data provided by Fangraphs.