Roegele: When starters face the same team twice in a row
From Jon Roegele at Beyond the Box Score on July 12, 2013:
Recently I investigated how pitchers change the types of pitches that they are throwing as they face hitters multiple times within the same game. I also noted how their level of success drops on each occasion through the order. One would deduce that this relative advantage is gained by the hitter at least partly to do with their becoming more accustomed to a pitcher, his rhythm, velocity, movement and sequencing.
To extend this idea a little further, I wondered what happened when an offense got to face the same starter twice within a week. Would hitters maintain this learned advantage? Would starters resort to a different game plan when forced to face the same team again right away?
For the study, I decided to look at all occasions in the last three seasons where a starting pitcher faced the same opponent in consecutive starts. The results are shown below.
Read the full article here: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2013/7/12/4515298/back-to-back-when-starters-face-the-same-team-twice-in-a-row-sabermetrics
Originally published: July 12, 2013. Last Updated: July 12, 2013.