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Foul Expectations of Strike Out Pitchers


After my initial post on the rebuilt Scott Kazmir, there was some concern expressed over his high number of pitches per inning and foul rate. Let's take a look at the top 5 qualified American League starters in K/9 and compare their pitch results with Rick Peterson's Scott Kazmir through two games.

 

Ball% Call Str Sw Str Foul InPlay K/9 BB/9
Verlander 32.3% 17.5% 11.5% 22.4% 15.3% 11 2.7
Lester 36.1% 17.2% 10.9% 19.8% 16.0% 10.44 2.8
Greinke 36.4% 19.1% 10.1% 15.4% 19.0% 8.9 1.4
Burnett 39.8% 18.6% 8.2% 16.7% 16.4% 8.82 4.4
Felix 35.8% 17.5% 11.6% 16.5% 18.6% 8.8 2.6
Post-RP Kazmir 35.1% 13.6% 13.1% 23.6% 14.7% 9.9 1.8

 

Kazmir's in play and foul ball's are in-line with Verlanders. His percentage of balls is the second lowest of the six. Verlander and Kazmir have throw less balls, allowed fewer balls in play, and induced more swinging strikes and foul balls. The one area Kaz has lagged in is called strikes with just 13.6%. The problem is certainly not an inability to induce a whiff.