One thing that is very rarely said is that even the most extreme strike-out pitcher gets most of it outs by other means than strike outs. A high strike out pitcher gets 9, 10 at the most K/9, and a non-strike out pitcher gets about 4-5 K/9. If we count 27 outs, it means that the strike-ot pitchers still has to get 18 outs by other means, while the low strike out pitcher has to get 22-23 outs by other means, not that great of a difference. I take it like a strike out pitcher has the ability to fool hitters more, hence, as Brock says, has the ability to induce weaker contact when the contact happens.

Also, tap into the individual stats listing at your favorite website, and sort by IP, by SO, by SO/9, by ERA - there is no evident pattern that putting up lots of strikeouts harms the ability to go many innings. This is empirical evidence that goes along with what Brock said: some of these guys are just plain *good*. (And there are guys like Dickey and Guthrie who succeed without the Ks. It takes all kinds.)

Justin Morneau with a 10-game stretch of BABIP = 0.000

 

(0-25)

Justin Morneau with a 10-game stretch of BABIP = 0.000

 

(0-25)

 

I don't think that this is exactly right. He has hit 3 HRs during that stretch, aren't those part of the BABIP calculation?

I don't think that this is exactly right. He has hit 3 HRs during that stretch, aren't those part of the BABIP calculation?

 

No. Home runs are not balls in play.

It's four home runs

Well I guess even an old dog can learn something new now and then.

Pythagorean season projections:

 

Twins: 69-93

Tigers: 93-69

 

Actually, that's not really fun, it's just odd and depressing symmetry.

We are on pace to have even less quality starts than last year.

 

Our rotation has a BAA over .310. No rotation has finished with a BAA over .310 in at least 10 years (that's as far back as I went). I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case if I went much farther back.

LaVelle E. Neal III ‏@LaVelleNeal 56m

Hey...its the Twins' first win on a Friday this season

 

Twins were 0-13 entering Friday's game with two postponed games on Friday's.

The Twins starting rotation has 4 of the 6 worst starting pitchers in the Central by ERA. That is packaging Gibson, Hernandez, Walters and Worley as only 1 pitcher and counting Deduno as a starter even though he has only made 12 starts this season. Correia, the Twins second best pitcher, would not start in Detroit, Cleveland or Chicago. Blech....

Going into today's game, Baseball Prospectus says we are dead last in the majors for defensive efficiency.

 

We're also 26th in FIP for our pitching staff as a whole.

 

We're 21s in runs scored.

 

We're dead last in starter ERA, IP, Ks, BAA, OBP against, slg% against and quality starts.

 

Sorry, I suppose I should have broken down every others teams opponent numbers on offense, defense and pitching compared to our opponents numbers, when they played, sunlight or nightime, full moon, etc...

 

Can't make any conclusions on this.

Edited August 1, 201313 yr by ThePuck

Correia has held opposing clean up hitters to a .568 OPS. #8 batters are OPS'ing .840.

Correia has held opposing clean up hitters to a .568 OPS. #8 batters are OPS'ing .840.

 

what in the world is he doing differently with the cleanup hitter?

what in the world is he doing differently with the cleanup hitter?

 

Whatever it is, it's the same thing that he does in the 5th inning (.571 OPS allowed).

Brian Dozier is the first Twins secondbaseman to hit 10+ home runs in a season since Luis Rivas hit 10 in 2004. And Dozier is the first Twins secondbaseman to hit 25+ double in a season since Todd Walker hit 37 back in 1999 (Walker hit 27 playing 2B, 10 as a DH)

Edited August 11, 201313 yr by Benchwarmerjim

Wow. Those are great for Dozier, sad for the Twins.

FanGraphs published an article today that discussed the Twins historically low starting pitcher strikeout rate (spoiler-- it's the worst ever, when adjusted for the era). Anyway, I had to steal and share this fun with numbers thought posted in the comments by Ian R:

 

Fun fact: Yu Darvish has as many starts with 14 or more strikeouts as the entire Twins rotation has starts with 7 strikeouts.

Edited August 13, 201313 yr by whydidnt

Extrapolated over a full season, Albers would have a....0.00 ERA.

 

He would also pitch 275 innings, post a 0.40 WHIP, strike out 63 and walk 16. He likely would be projected to go 33-0, although the Twins could easily lose some of those games.

Hmmm...what percentage of MLB games are lost in which the SP goes at least 8.3 IP with no ER allowed?

I looked it up...26,175 instances of a SP going at least 8.3 innings with no earned runs, and the team lost 750 times. 2.8%.

Non-Mauer Twins batting .231 at the moment, if my Midwest math is right.

 

Was going to calculate their OBP and OPS too, but then I wouldn't have enough time to properly pre-medicate before the first pitch against the Tigers tonight...

On August 20, available players are 9 relievers and 1 bench player.

On August 20, available players are 9 relievers and 1 bench player.

Should work out as long as the bench player is a third catcher...

19 times in Buxton's last 22 games he has reached base multiple times, which is the same number of times as Aaron Hicks has all year (Majors and AAA) in 97 total games.

The Twins just set a franchise record for most strikeouts in a season. And it's still August.

The Twins just set a franchise record for most strikeouts in a season. And it's still August.

 

Holy Carp!!! I knew there was something special about this years pitching staff.....oh....you mean..... *sniff* *sniff* (Ox runs away to cry in private).

Twins vs MLB (-KC Royals) 55-61

KC vs MLB (-Twins) 55-62

Hat tip to MLB.com for this, but apparently Brian Dozier leads the AL in XBH since 1 July.

Twins surged past Miami last night to grab second place on the MLB negative run differential leader board.