Filed under General
Watching Ryan Dempster this year, something seems different. It’s not just the fact that he isn’t getting the run support like last year, but something is different and I can’t put my finger on it. Here are some number I found.
Pitches Per Plate Appearance
:
2008 – 3.90
2009 – 3.81
Pitches Thrown for Stikes The Mutant Chronicles move
2008 – 63%
2009 – 61%
First Pitch Strike Percentage
2008 – 58%
2009 – 58%
3-0 Count Percentage
2008 – 6%
2009 – 6%
0-2 Count Percentage
2008 – 27%
2009 – 19%
I can’t put my finger on it, but again, something seems different. Help me out here. What am I missing?
I’d say it’s lack of run support, and walks at inopportune times. He walked guys last year, but I don’t recall them being lead off walks, etc, as much.
He doesn’t look as sharp, which I’m attributing to havign a lot on his mind outside of baseball, and his daughter’s medical issues.
I don’t see a big difference, to me he was never dominant but crafty getting hitters to hit his pitches weakly for outs. A lot of ground balls especially in double play situations, granted I haven’t seen all of his starts but he seems the similar. He is dealing with pitching for a team that doesn’t score for him just like all the other pitchers and his daughters medical issues. The medical issues alone can fatigue you. So far I think he has been a gamer.
I will vote run support being the difference. He’s basically a serviceable ML pitcher. Last years record was probably better than expected due to the Cubs leading the galaxy in runs scored. This year, not so much, hence a return to reality.
How does run support make his ERA go from 2.96 to 3.83? Or how does run support make his WHIP from from 1.31 to 1.48?
Joe… the stats you gave were odd, and don’t really tell us much.
His K/9 is down from last year, his H/9 is up, his HR/9 is up, his BB/9 is up, etc. His FIP is up. Pretty much every peripheral stat is worse this year than last year, which explains how/why he is pitching worse.
Now… a tougher question is why is this so? Is it because of his daughter, and the stress/fatigue that it may bring? It definitely could be. Or he could just be regressing to the mean a bit, having pitched well above his career numbers last year.