Kyle Gibson is elite...when it comes to ground ball pitchers. And that's a good thing.

According to Baseball Nation, a ground ball pitcher is a type of pitcher that has a tendency to induce ground balls from opposing batters. The average ground ball pitcher has a ground ball rate of at least 50% with extreme ground ball pitchers maintaining a ground ball rate of around 55%.

In his brief MLB career, Gibson has consistently proven he is a top 20 pitcher at inducing ground balls. Gibson had a GB% of 54.4% in 2014 and currently has a 51.9 GB% thus far in 2015. Those numbers definitely meet Baseball Nation's definition of a ground ball pitcher. Gibson tied for 7th out of all MLB qualifying pitchers in 2014 with a 2.05 GB/FB ratio and just to prove he's consistent, he currently has a 2.00 GB/FB ratio in 2015, which put him 16th.

Baseball analysts and sabermetricians prefer ground ball pitchers than those with fly ball tendencies for the simple fact that ground balls cannot immediately be turned into runs; i.e. ground balls cannot leave the ballpark. Furthermore, outcomes for ground balls are far more favorable than those of fly balls. While OBP is slightly higher for grounders than flies, the average OPS for all grounders in 2013 was .483 as compared to .834 for fly balls. Ground balls own the lowest weighted on-base average (wOBA) when compared to liners and flies, and it's not even close (.213 vs .681 and .346 for grounders compared to liners and flies, respectively).

Unfortunately, Gibson will never be an ace because he doesn't strike enough batters out. Strikeouts are the most effective tool a pitcher can utilize in order to avoid big innings due to the ball not being put into play. Too much can happen on a ground ball, be it a booted play due to a "bad hop", a "seeing eye" single, or a poor throw (Chuck Knoblauch anyone?). Gibson's 3.54 K/9 ratio is the 2nd worst mark for all qualifying pitchers in 2015 and his 5.37 K/9 was 4th worst in 2014.

HOWEVER, Gibson's elite ability to induce ground balls results in aggressive, strike-throwing pitching which keeps his pitch- count down, allows him to pitch deeper into games, and ultimately be an effective #2 or #3 starting pitcher for the Twins. I can handle that.