Sonnanstine vs. Radke At Age 25

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 8, 2009 1:27 PM EST Comment 22 comments

Hat Tip to Brickhaus for bringing this comparison to my attention.

Much like our own Andy Sonnanstine, Brad Radke wasn't blessed with "stuff", but he made a good career out of being a smart pitcher. I took a quick look at the numbers for Sonnanstine's first full season and Radke at the same age. Here are the results

Age 25	Sonnanstine	Radke
FIP	3.91	3.90
ERA	4.38	4.30
K/9	5.77	6.15
BB/9	1.81	1.72
K/BB	3.35	3.40
HR/9	0.98	0.97
H/9	9.90	10.08
BAA	0.280	0.283
WHIP	1.29	1.31

It is amazing to see how the two "finese righties" are alike. From age 24-31, Radke had an average FIP of 3.96. That's not super star level, but it's very good for a pitcher with pedestrian stuff. Hopefully, we can expect the same from Sonnanstine.

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That's wacky how similar they are.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 8, 2009 1:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

And they both made 32 starts so the numbers are pretty accurate.

Difference is about 20 innings

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 8, 2009 1:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

wow

That’s awesome.

Nice job Brick and RJ.

by rglass44 on Jan 8, 2009 1:36 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

What?

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 8, 2009 1:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is Brick's comp, I had nothing to do with it.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 8, 2009 1:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

and Tommy posted it.

Top Josh Paul Pornos- Big Navi Stroking, 2pitchers1cup, BJ to the Balls, Riggans Your Thingans

by SRQman on Jan 8, 2009 1:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

God I am an idiot.

Sorry Tommy. Nice job Brick and Tommy. RJ linked me and said “posted,” so I assumed it was him. My bad.

by rglass44 on Jan 8, 2009 1:48 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs

Almost as good as RJ's

Jesus, I’m dumb.

Rec’d

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 8, 2009 2:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like how you blame me for your failures.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 8, 2009 2:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Uh Ohhhhhhhhh. It ain't my fault!

by rglass44 on Jan 8, 2009 2:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah Brick mentioned this yesterday

I would love having a Radke type as our 4-5 since Brad was 1-3 on their staff depending on the season.

Anyway, as I was lying in the puddle, I think I may have found a way for us to get Bonds and Griffey, and we wouldn't have to give up that much.

~George Costanza~

by Sandy Kazmir on Jan 8, 2009 1:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Wow

Even I had no idea they were THAT similar.

Nice work Tommy.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Jan 8, 2009 2:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Me either until you mentioned it.

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 8, 2009 2:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's a good comp

I bet you could find similar comparisons for a lot of players in baseball.

by Erik Hahmann on Jan 8, 2009 2:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I had always thought Shields was similar to Radke

Average fastball, terrific command, godly changeup.

Hello.

by killa3312 on Jan 8, 2009 3:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Shields fastball tends to vary.

I remember seeing his four-seam around 93-95 at some points but seemed to be around 90 by the end of the season.

But yeah, pitchers that don’t walk people, and get decent K-rates tend to be pretty good.

by twenty5psi on Jan 8, 2009 3:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Shields also K's a little more per 9.

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 8, 2009 3:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Wow. Cool stuff.

Was Radke too hittable?

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

by Sky Kalkman on Jan 8, 2009 6:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

HE WON 20 GAMES!

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 8, 2009 7:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

HE PITCHED WITH A SEPERATED SHOULDER

by Erik Hahmann on Jan 9, 2009 8:41 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

great comparision tommy

i think that sonny’s career is going to be very similar to Radke’s now that i think about it, control guy, ground ball pitcher, gives up some long balls, but most of them are solo shots since he doesnt have that many baserunners on.

TB Rays in 09!!!

by RaysOfHope on Jan 9, 2009 12:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

FWIW

His late career (for which numbers are available), his FIP was actually higher than his ERA most years, so probably not. If he didn’t tend to have higher than expected BABIPs through his career, I guess it would poke a big hole in my theory on Sonnanstine.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Jan 9, 2009 8:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs