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Early Impressions of Jeff Bennett

Jeff Bennett has been a Ray for two weeks and he's faced 31 batters already. That's more than Chad Bradford has faced, almost more than Jason Isringhausen, one less than Dale Thayer, and almost as many as J.P. Howell faced in April. Early returns: eh, not so great. His FIP is 6.09 with the Rays, his tRA (now on FanGraphs, holla) is 6.18, and his K/BB ratio is disgustingly 1.00. He is doing some things right, his whiff rate is slightly up, his groundball rate is near 60% (although his BABIP is actually .349 which is insanely high for a ground-pounding specialist with a good defense behind him), and his home run rate is way too high to sustain. We labeled him a right-handed specialist when he arrived, and boy, is that ever the truth:

Versus righties (18 PA): .267/.389/.267

Versus lefties (13 PA): .364/.462/.727

The numbers will change, but the pattern is going to remain the same. He's built to take on normal human beings, not "left-handed" "people".

So that's Jeff Bennett. I noticed his fastball velocity was down 0.7 ticks from his time with the Braves. Having some pitchfx data on my hands I decided to run David Price's home/away velocities and see what gives, if anything:

Road starts (356 four-seamers): 93.8 MPH

Home starts (334 four-seamers): 92.9 MPH

Same exercise, but for James Shields:

Road starts (354 four-seamers): 91.2 MPH

Home starts (387 four-seamers): 90.0 MPH

I'm going to check the other pitchers before stating anything, but you can kinda see where this may lead.

0 recs  |  Comment 23 comments |

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With control he can be a solid ROOGY, but do you really need a ROOGY?

As hard as we throw on the road, its amazing we don’t win more.

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 2:37 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Yes, to amn extent.

but I think most are more serviceable against lefties than Bennett.

by RaysTheRoof on Aug 14, 2009 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

This

Wheeler and Balfour can face the lefties outside of the best lefties in high leverage spots. I never want to see Bennett against a lefty in a remotely meaningful situation, even a switch hitter who is weaker from the left.

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Neither Wheeler or Balfour is a middle reliever.

Both are more set-up types.

I’m literally talking the 6th/7th inning types and sometimes later in blowouts, not the guys who pitch in the 8/9th in a close game.

by R.J. Anderson on Aug 14, 2009 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

3 year LHB OPS vs

Bennett .803
Springer .792
Cormier .758
Wheeler .755
Bradford .745
Nelson .737
Balfour .596

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Pretty sick # for Grant

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Nelson

.582 I transposed LHB and RHB for him

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Lance cares not where batters stand

I can't help that I make some things look easier than they really are.

by Sandy Kazmir on Aug 14, 2009 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

All fans would

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Deep

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

boooo

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

blasphemy

Don’t give in Raymondo, you continue to shine you little butterfly.

www.bucem.com - SBNation's source for all things Buccaneer

by Buc Wild on Aug 14, 2009 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions   1 recs

What a sad site a neutered Raymondo is

How can he go back to STRONGSville now?

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by FreeZorilla on Aug 14, 2009 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

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