Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Stat Line of the Day: March 23rd

Today's Stat Line of the Day is actually a Double Feature: two young pitchers having rather different springs. One represents part of an uprising in Baltimore, the other the dreaded sophomore slump:

Zach Britton (BAL): 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 5 K's vs. Yankees.
Britton has a spring ERA of 0.64
The 23-year-old is considered one of the Orioles top prospects, and he's certainly pitching like it. After today he has pitched 14 innings this spring and given up 14 hits, 1 run (1 ER), and 4 walks/9 strikeouts. No, this start wasn't the most impressive stat line we've seen from a pitcher this spring (see: yesterday) but at least it's something positive about Baltimore, and Britton definitely has talent. Last season, in 26 starts between AA and AAA (14 AA, 12 AAA), he went 10-7 with a 2.70 ERA in 153 innings while holding batters to a .237 average against him. The good thing for Orioles fans is that because he threw 153 innings last season, he most likely won't see too big an increase in IP this year.
 
Mike Leake (CIN): 2.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4bb/1k 1 HR vs. Oakland
Could we be seeing the early stages of the dreaded sophomore slump? As a rookie, Leake had a 4.23 ERA & went 8-4 in 22 starts last year, including going 7-1 in his first 8 decisions. Now he's got a 9.39 ERA in 15.1 spring innings--not so great, especially compared to last spring when he had an ERA of 3.00 in 18 innings. Leake could have cost himself a spot in the Reds rotation with this spring.

Honorable Mentions:

Marcin Gortat (PHO): 53 Min, 24 points (9-15 fg, 6-8 ft), 16 rebs, 2blk, 2 fouls @ Lakers
Playing 53 minutes in an NBA game is one thing, but doing it off the bench against the Lakers in triple overtime is something else entirely. Gortat, the Polish center who had only 3 career starts before this season, has scored in double-figures every game this month, and is now averaging 12.3 points and 8.9 rebounds in 29 minutes per game, for a PER of 19.0. Robin Lopez, the Suns starting center had 4 fouls in 10 min, so Gortat came up huge for Phoenix, but ultimately in a losing effort

Hector Santiago (CHW): 1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2bb/2ks vs. Mariners
I think this one speaks for itself in its bizarre ugliness. It wasn't a lot of errors, just one at the beginning of the inning, followed by two outs, so everything after that was unearned. Santiago didn't help himself, giving up two hits with men on base after that 2nd out, but the line is still fairly amusing.

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