Ohio’s own (I’m from Cleveland), Andy Sonnanstine hails from Barberton and attended college at Kent State University. Though Sonnanstine posted a 5.85 ERA last year and currently has a 4.53 ERA, his Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) stats are 4.26 and 3.89, respectively. That indicates he is the recipient of some poor defense behind him and is simply getting unlucky instead of him being a subpar pitcher.

Sonnanstine throws a ton of different pitches for strikes. Here’s his 2007 Pitch f/x data, courtesy of Josh Kalk’s site:

If that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will. Read on!

Sonnanstine’s peripherals are great, for the most part. He walks less than 2 batters per game, allows less than 1 home run per game, but his strikeout rate is below 5. Regardless, his k/bb ratio is quite good and his GB/FB/LD rates are improving as well:

Sonnanstine also throws from various different arm angles, which adds to his deception. In theory, it should make his control worse, but it doesn’t seem to affect him due to his very good walk rates.

And now, on to the video! I wanted to keep it shorter that Scherzer’s analysis, but it looks like it clocks in at just over 17 minutes. Sorry! There’s a bunch of good stuff in there about Sonnanstine compared to Roy Oswalt, though!

Click the link above to see the video, as I couldn't embed it into DRays Bay.