In summary, it's extremely difficult to post an ERA under 4.50 with a K/BB under 1.5. Of the 89...

In summary, it's extremely difficult to post an ERA under 4.50 with a K/BB under 1.5. Of the 89 pitchers who managed to do it between 2004 and 2007, only four repeated the following year. Of those four, three are extreme groundball pitchers -- who also increased their K/BB ratios to varying degrees -- and Victor Zambrano. And the only good aspect of having the next Victor Zambrano on your team is that maybe he'll be traded for the next Scott Kazmir.

Can You Succeed With A Low K/BB Ratio?

over 3 years ago Sky Kalkman 3 comments 0 recs |

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Longtime Rays fans (as in five years ago) should all remember Jorge Sosa. Although probably never quite as good as Jackson, he was a similar pitcher to Jackson and carried observations about his “good stuff” and being “raw” (he had converted to pitcher just a couple years before joining the D’Rays). He was a pitcher with iffy K/BB (and K/9 and BB/9) numbers, but put together a “breakthrough” 2005 (?) with the Braves … then crashed and burned.

by RATW on Sep 10, 2008 3:44 PM EDT reply actions

Sosa's stuff was beyond nasty

He was serving up outright filth like a school cafeteria cook. From memory, he seems to be able to clump together decent performances in strings but struggled all this year and now he’s suspended for using greenies.

by kericr on Sep 10, 2008 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions

wow, i love the Jorge Sosa comparison. it's just one example, but jeez, Edwin could certainly be Jorge Sosa part two, no?

In 2005, Sosa had a 2.55 ERA. His xFIP was still high (5.05 because of a 5.7 K/9,4.3 BB/9, 35% GB) but his BABIP was .264 and his HR/FB was 7.9%. Those last two numbers regressed the following year and his ERA went back to where it deserved to be.

Sosa’s 2005 rate stats are eerily similar to Jackson’s 2008 rate stats.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Sep 10, 2008 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions