LA Angels: Evaluating the Jose Quintana signing

LA Angels starting pitcher Jose Quintana is back on the mound this afternoon.

This is Jose Quintana‘s first start for the LA Angels since May 21st. That start was against the Oakland A’s, who he’ll take the mound against today.

That start didn’t go very well for Quintana. He gave up three earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched.

This whole season hasn’t gone well for Quintana. Hitters are batting .291 against him and his ERA is a rough 7.92.

The former All-Star, Quintana used to be one of the more reliable starters in the Majors. He was no ace, but he was still solid for many years. The Angels were expecting that steady reliability when they signed him to a 1 yr/$8 million deal this offseason.

Quintana has been so up and down that his stats don’t seem to make sense at first glance. How can a pitcher who strikes out 13.21 batters per nine innings allow 7.92 runs per nine innings. Well, he’s not throwing as many strikes as that stat may suggest.

He’s walked 6.46 batters per nine innings, which is definitely too much for major league standards.

Even when he is finding the zone, 33.7% of hitters who do make contact make hard contact. Only 12 percent of hitters who make contact make soft contact with his pitches.

Quintana dealt with injuries last season. Perhaps he’s a little rusty from only pitching 10 innings last year for the Cubs? Hopefully it’s just rust, and he’ll be able to turn it around soon.

In his nine years in this league before he signed with the Angels, he sported a 3.73 ERA. In his All-Star year, 2016, his fWAR was 4.9. That was tied for seventh in the entire MLB.

This year, his fWAR is currently 0.3, and it’s almost June.

This signing is looking bad, and if Quintana wants to make his money, he needs to hop on the comeback trail today.