Baseball BeatJuly 03, 2006
Lists, Lists, and More Lists (Part Two)
By Rich Lederer

As a follow-up to yesterday's article, we present the pitching leaders in a number of special categories not widely publicized (all stats through Saturday, July 1):

PITCHING

Pitches Thrown 
AL: Curt Schilling, 1823
NL: Carlos Zambrano, 1906

...and these numbers exclude Sunday's outing when Zambrano threw 112 more pitches. Oh, did I mention that Carlos has hit THREE home runs through Sunday?

Batting Average Allowed (BAA)
AL: John Lackey, .209 (81/388)
NL: Carlos Zambrano, .194 (78/403)

Lackey improved his league-leading mark on Sunday when he allowed only four hits in 6 2/3 innings of work vs. the Dodgers. He has become the ace of the staff and one of the best starters in the AL.

OBP Allowed
AL: Johan Santana, .253 (116/459)
NL: Pedro Martinez, .267 (108/405)

Are these the two best starters in baseball? They not only lead in OBP allowed but in K/100P (see the bottom of the sidebar to the left).

SLG Allowed
AL: John Lackey, .327 (127/388)
NL: Derek Lowe, .333 (142/426)

There's that Lackey guy again. Lowe has allowed only seven HR this year after giving up a career-high 28 in 2005. His worst season had been 17 in 2003 so it looks like last year was a fluke.

ERA at Home
AL: Scott Kazmir, 2.36 (11/42.0)
NL: Josh Johnson, 1.62 (8/44.1)

What is it about those Florida ballparks? Kazmir is third in K/100P in the AL. Johnson put up a solid line (7-4-3-3-4-5) against the Red Sox at home on Sunday. The 6-foot-7, 240-pound RHP needs to reduce his walk totals but looks as if he is here to stay.

ERA on the Road
AL: Justin Verlander, 2.25 (12/48.0)
NL: Aaron Harang, 1.57 (10/57.1)

Verlander is near the top in a number of pitching categories, including mainstays like wins (6th w/ 10) and ERA (3rd, 3.13). Harang is third in the NL in K/100P and among the league leaders in Wins (9), WPct (.643), IP (112.1), SO (109), ERA (3.45), and CG (3).

AVG vs LHB
AL: Fernando Rodney, .132 (7/53)
NL: Enrique Gonzalez, .113 (7/62)

Rodney throws gas and can pierce 100-mph on the radar gun. Gonzalez has pitched well against LHB and at home. It's too early to tell if he is the real deal or not.

AVG vs RHB
AL: Johan Santana, .200 (68/340)
NL: Carlos Zambrano, .142 (32/226)

A couple of familiar names. You gotta love it when a LHP like Santana has the best BAA vs. RHB. His outstanding changeup might have something to do with that.

AVG w/ Men on Base
AL: Rafael Soriano, .177 (14/79)
NL: Jason Isringhausen, .158 (9/57)

After pitching just 10 2/3 innings in 2004-05, Soriano has bounced back and become the dominant relief pitcher he was in 2003 when he fashioned a 1.53 ERA with 68 Ks in 53 IP.

AVG w/ RISP
AL: Scott Kazmir, .168 (17/101)
NL: Jason Schmidt, .111 (8/72)

Speaking of comebacks, Schmidt has once again become one of the best starting pitchers in the NL this season. He ranks in the top ten in IP (115.1), SO (99), ERA (2.73), WHIP (1.09), WPct (.667), CG (3), and BAA (.211).

Run Support Per 9 IP
AL: Javier Vazquez, 8.88 (100/101.1)
NL: Jeff Suppan, 7.41 (76/92.1)

Now you know why Vazquez is 8-4 despite a 5.15 ERA and Suppan 6-4 with a 5.17 ERA and 1.56 WHIP.

G/F Ratio
AL: Jake Westbrook, 3.19 (220/69)
NL: Brandon Webb, 3.82 (252/66)

Keep the ball on the ground, keep the ball in the yard. Westbrook has allowed only 8 HR in 103 innings, while Webb has given up just 9 dingers in 132 1/3 frames.

GIDP Induced 
AL: Chien-Ming Wang, 18
NL: Miguel Batista, 18
    Roy Oswalt, 18
    Jamey Wright, 18
GIDP Induced/GIDP Situation
AL: Jason Johnson, .238 (15/63)
NL: Ray King, .333 (8/24)

Johnson should find Boston's infield defense to his liking. His K/9 rate (3.78) is abysmal but his BABIP (.349) is well above his career norm (.306). Johnson's FIP (5.00) this year is more than a run below his actual ERA (6.22), whereas his career FIP (4.96) matches his lifetime ERA (4.97).

Stolen Bases Allowed
AL: Freddy Garcia, 20
NL: Chris Young, 18
Caught Stealing Off 
AL: Kelvim Escobar, 8
NL: Zach Duke, 8

The Pirates have two young southpaws who do a whale of a job in preventing baserunners from stealing. Scroll down to find out the name of the other lefty.

SB Att (1BH+BB+HBP)
AL: Kenny Rogers, .021 (2/95)
NL: Chris Capuano, .019 (2/108)
Pickoff Throws per Baserunner
AL: Kenny Rogers, 0.50 (66/132)
NL: Chris Capuano, 0.74 (111/149)

Maybe pickoff throws do indeed help in keeping runners close to the bag. Rogers and Capuano have attempted more pickoffs than any other pitcher and runners have responded by almost never running on them.

Pickoffs
AL: Justin Verlander, 5
NL: Paul Maholm, 6

Verlander is tough to hit but is also difficult to run against. He has picked off five runners and only allowed one stolen base. Pretty impressive for a rookie RHP.

% Inherited Runners Scored 
AL: B.J. Ryan, 4.5 (1/22)
NL: Chad Bradford, 9.7 (3/31)

Ryan has been lights out this year. The Toronto closer has an ERA of 0.45 with 22 saves. His WHIP is 0.64 and BAA is .137. He has whiffed 51 batters in 40 1/3 IP, including all five outs vs. the Phillies on Saturday.

First Batter Efficiency
AL: Chris Britton, .045 (1/22)
NL: Tom Gordon, .133 (4/30)

Source: STATS LLC

Comments

Great pair of articles, Rich. In the game of baseball (not fantasy), stats like these show the little things that are missed on SportsCenter or Baseball Tonight. Thanks for all your great work.

i agree, good stuff.
you left one thing off your hitters list though:
Youkilis- slowest lead-off man in MLB history.