Blengino: Grading the pitchers: 2016 NL starters’ curveballs
From SABR member Tony Blengino at FanGraphs on April 20, 2017:
We’re almost three weeks into the regular season, with sample sizes mounting but still not to a level worthy of significant analysis, Eric Thames notwithstanding. We’ll take the opportunity to continue our look back at 2016 pitch quality. We looked at AL ERA qualifiers’ curveballs earlier this week; today, we turn our attention to the senior circuit.
For those who haven’t seen the earlier installments, we’re giving letter grades to the individual pitches, based on a 50-50 split between bat-missing ability and contact-management performance. League-average-range performance in both component measures would receive a “B” grade. If that seems high to you, bear in mind that these are already better-than-average pitchers, simply by virtue of their ability to compile the 162 innings necessary for qualification while dodging the not insignificant hurdles of injury and ineffectiveness. Oh, and Clayton Kershaw wasn’t an ERA qualifier, so he won’t be poking his head into these analyses.
Read the full article here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/grading-the-pitches-2016-nl-starters-curveballs/
Originally published: April 21, 2017. Last Updated: April 21, 2017.