ERA BLASTERS
| Name | FIP- | xFIP- | ERA | FIP | xFIP |
| Alfredo Simon | 118 | 118 | 5.05 | 4.77 | 4.78 |
| Chris Tillman | 106 | 113 | 4.99 | 4.45 | 4.58 |
| Jeff Samardzija | 101 | 107 | 4.96 | 4.23 | 4.31 |
| Rick Porcello | 104 | 92 | 4.92 | 4.13 | 3.72 |
| Aaron Harang | 122 | 128 | 4.86 | 4.83 | 4.99 |
| CC Sabathia | 112 | 99 | 4.73 | 4.68 | 3.99 |
| John Danks | 108 | 115 | 4.71 | 4.49 | 4.65 |
| Rubby de la Rosa | 124 | 105 | 4.67 | 4.81 | 4.10 |
| Colby Lewis | 100 | 114 | 4.66 | 4.17 | 4.62 |
| Taijuan Walker | 103 | 94 | 4.56 | 4.07 | 3.82 |
| Trevor Bauer | 107 | 106 | 4.55 | 4.33 | 4.28 |
| Jeff Locke | 104 | 102 | 4.49 | 3.95 | 3.94 |
| Wade Miley | 96 | 101 | 4.46 | 3.81 | 4.08 |
| Andrew Cashner | 100 | 99 | 4.34 | 3.85 | 3.84 |
| Ian Kennedy | 117 | 95 | 4.28 | 4.51 | 3.70 |
| Mike Pelfrey | 99 | 110 | 4.26 | 4.00 | 4.45 |
| Bartolo Colon | 99 | 102 | 4.16 | 3.84 | 3.94 |
| Jon Niese | 114 | 106 | 4.13 | 4.41 | 4.11 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez | 96 | 95 | 4.11 | 4.01 | 3.83 |
| Jimmy Nelson | 101 | 104 | 4.11 | 4.10 | 4.06 |
| Yordano Ventura | 89 | 89 | 4.08 | 3.57 | 3.60 |
| Tom Koehler | 120 | 118 | 4.08 | 4.53 | 4.58 |
| Anthony DeSclafani | 92 | 102 | 4.05 | 3.67 | 3.97 |
| Julio Teheran | 116 | 108 | 4.04 | 4.40 | 4.19 |
| *** ERA | |||||
| *** FIP, Fielding Dependent Pitching | |||||
| *** xFIP - Expected Fielding Independent Pitching | |||||
| *** Sabermetric Primer to Learn more. | |||||
Alfredo Simon was the only qualifier, 162 innings or more, with an ERA over five. Drop that number down to 140 innings and the group explodes to six men: Kyle Kendrick 6.32, Jeremy Guthrie 5.95, Kyle Lohse 5.85, Matt Garza 5.63, Drew Hutchison 5.57 and Simon. How did Kendrick make 27 starts for the Rockies? The Brewers had two of the bottom-4. Things didn’t go well in Milwaukee.
Jeff Samardzija had a 2.99 ERA in 2014. That mark nearly went up two full runs. Two.
Rick Porcello had a 4.92 mark. That’s the fifth time in six years that the mark has been at least 4.32. Why the love each year?
Aaron Harang's last 88 starts: 4.50 ERA.
CC Sabathia's last 69 starts: 4.81 ERA.
John Danks' last 93 starts: 4.82 ERA
Colby Lewis' last 62 starts: 4.90 ERA
Trevor Bauer career mark in 65 outings: 4.50.
WHIP DISASTER
| Name | WHIP | Name | WHIP | |
| Mike Pelfrey | 1.48 | Rubby de la Rosa | 1.36 | |
| Alfredo Simon | 1.44 | Ubaldo Jimenez | 1.36 | |
| Andrew Cashner | 1.44 | Alex Wood | 1.36 | |
| CC Sabathia | 1.42 | A.J. Burnett | 1.36 | |
| Jeff Locke | 1.42 | Anthony DeSclafani | 1.35 | |
| Gio Gonzalez | 1.42 | James Shields | 1.33 | |
| Yovani Gallardo | 1.42 | Brett Anderson | 1.33 | |
| John Danks | 1.41 | Trevor Bauer | 1.31 | |
| Jon Niese | 1.40 | Julio Teheran | 1.31 | |
| Chris Tillman | 1.39 | Chris Heston | 1.31 | |
| Aaron Harang | 1.39 | Edinson Volquez | 1.31 | |
| Wade Miley | 1.37 | Tyson Ross | 1.31 | |
| Tom Koehler | 1.37 | Ian Kennedy | 1.30 | |
| Lance Lynn | 1.37 | Yordano Ventura | 1.30 | |
| Rick Porcello | 1.36 |
Mike Pelfrey has had a WHIP of at least 1.42 each of the last five years. The last 64 starts with a 1.55 WHIP… really Twins?
Gio Gonzalez had been under 1.26 in three straight seasons before his ’15 blow up.
Lance Lynn posts strikeouts and wins games (8.71 for his career with an average of 15 wins the last four seasons), but his WHIP is never strong (1.30 for his career).
James Shields at 1.33 in Petco was a shock. From 2011-14 the mark was 1.15.
Drop that innings pitched limit to 120 and all kinds of exciting happens. Jerome Williams had a 1.61 WHIP while Chris Rusin was just behind at 1.60. Three others had a mark over 1.50: Matt Garza 1.57, Jeremy Guthrie 1.55 and Kyle Kendrick 1.52.
BABIP TORTURE
| Name | BABIP | Name | BABIP | |
| Gio Gonzalez | 0.341 | Brett Anderson | 0.310 | |
| A.J. Burnett | 0.336 | Collin McHugh | 0.310 | |
| Mike Pelfrey | 0.334 | Ubaldo Jimenez | 0.309 | |
| Rick Porcello | 0.332 | Wade Miley | 0.307 | |
| Andrew Cashner | 0.330 | Yordano Ventura | 0.307 | |
| Jose Quintana | 0.327 | Bartolo Colon | 0.307 | |
| Chris Sale | 0.323 | John Danks | 0.305 | |
| Tyson Ross | 0.320 | Gerrit Cole | 0.304 | |
| Lance Lynn | 0.319 | Carlos Carrasco | 0.304 | |
| Anthony DeSclafani | 0.318 | Yovani Gallardo | 0.303 | |
| Carlos Martinez | 0.318 | Jeff Samardzija | 0.303 | |
| CC Sabathia | 0.317 | Jon Lester | 0.303 | |
| Alex Wood | 0.313 | Jordan Zimmermann | 0.302 | |
| Jeff Locke | 0.312 | Ian Kennedy | 0.301 | |
| J.A. Happ | 0.312 | Jon Niese | 0.300 |
Gio Gonzalez had a huge WHIP in part to a league-worst .341 BABIP. The previous five years the mark never hit .295.
A.J. Burnett had kept the BABIP at .305 or lower the previous four seasons.
Andrew Cashner had a .272 BABIP from 2013-14 before seeing that number explode in ’15.
Chris Sale has a career mark of .294, making that .323 certainly look like an outlier.
Tyson Ross was under .292 each of the past two seasons but things didn’t go as well in 2015.
Drop the innings pitched mark down to 120 and the best/worst would be Drew Hutchison at .343. Nathan Eovaldi has a great arm everyone gushes over, but that .337 mark speaks to how many pitches he left in hittable areas.
EVERYONE SCORED – LOB%
| Name | LOB% | Name | LOB% | |
| Andrew Cashner | 65.6% | Mike Pelfrey | 70.5% | |
| Colby Lewis | 65.9% | Erasmo Ramirez | 70.5% | |
| Jeff Locke | 67.1% | Corey Kluber | 71.4% | |
| Jeff Samardzija | 67.2% | Jon Niese | 71.5% | |
| Rick Porcello | 67.5% | Ian Kennedy | 71.6% | |
| Alfredo Simon | 67.8% | Trevor Bauer | 71.6% | |
| Taijuan Walker | 67.8% | Carlos Carrasco | 71.8% | |
| John Danks | 68.1% | Jon Lester | 71.8% | |
| Chris Tillman | 68.2% | Garrett Richards | 71.8% | |
| Mark Buehrle | 69.0% | Bartolo Colon | 71.9% | |
| Wade Miley | 69.7% | Tom Koehler | 71.9% | |
| Aaron Harang | 69.7% | Gio Gonzalez | 72.1% | |
| Anthony DeSclafani | 69.9% | Yordano Ventura | 72.5% | |
| Kyle Hendricks | 69.9% | Jason Hammel | 72.8% | |
| Jimmy Nelson | 70.0% | Alex Wood | 72.9% |
There were 14 qualifies who failed to reach the league average.
Same cast of characters – Drew Hutchison, Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, Rick Porcello, Alfredo Simon, but the leader at stinkiness was Andrew Cashner. His career mark is 70.8 percent.
Taijuan Walker was at 67.8 percent helping to contribute to his elevated 4.56 ERA.
Kyle Hendricks and Anthony DeSclafani were both just off the league average at 69.9 percent.
If we drop the limit down to 120 innings... you can’t spell his name, and you also can see that Odrisamer Despaigne had a very hard time keeping runners from crossing home plate.
WHAT HAPPENED? K/BB
| Name | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB |
| Alfredo Simon | 5.63 | 3.27 | 1.72 |
| Tom Koehler | 6.58 | 3.70 | 1.78 |
| Yovani Gallardo | 5.91 | 3.32 | 1.78 |
| Chris Tillman | 6.24 | 3.33 | 1.88 |
| Mike Pelfrey | 4.70 | 2.46 | 1.91 |
| Jon Niese | 5.76 | 2.80 | 2.05 |
| R.A. Dickey | 5.29 | 2.56 | 2.07 |
| Aaron Harang | 5.64 | 2.66 | 2.12 |
| Jeff Locke | 6.90 | 3.21 | 2.15 |
| Trevor Bauer | 8.69 | 4.04 | 2.15 |
| Edinson Volquez | 6.96 | 3.23 | 2.15 |
| Chris Heston | 7.14 | 3.24 | 2.20 |
| John Danks | 6.28 | 2.84 | 2.21 |
| Kyle Gibson | 6.70 | 3.01 | 2.23 |
| Jimmy Nelson | 7.51 | 3.30 | 2.28 |
| Hector Santiago | 8.07 | 3.54 | 2.28 |
| Wade Miley | 6.83 | 2.97 | 2.30 |
| Garrett Richards | 7.64 | 3.30 | 2.32 |
| Julio Teheran | 7.67 | 3.27 | 2.34 |
| Shelby Miller | 7.50 | 3.20 | 2.34 |
| Alex Wood | 6.60 | 2.80 | 2.36 |
| Rubby de la Rosa | 7.16 | 3.01 | 2.38 |
| Marco Estrada | 6.51 | 2.73 | 2.38 |
| Mike Leake | 5.58 | 2.30 | 2.43 |
| Gio Gonzalez | 8.66 | 3.54 | 2.45 |
| Lance Lynn | 8.57 | 3.49 | 2.46 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez | 8.22 | 3.33 | 2.47 |
| Andrew Cashner | 8.04 | 3.22 | 2.50 |
Oh Simon, you were just awful.
Tom Koehler and Yovani Gallardo were just behind. Only Koehler had a K/9 rate over 5.95.
Trevor Bauer was the only pitcher in the top 20 with a K mark over 8.10. He was also the only pitcher in the bottom 60 with a BB/rate over four (4.04).
Chris Heston had a very solid rookie season, but too many walks (3.24 per nine) doomed him in this measure.
Hector Santiago is the only other top-24 hurler with a K/9 rate over 8.00. His 8.07 mark wasn’t enough to overcome his 3.54 walk rate.
Mike Leake was 24th even with a 2.30 walk rate. That 5.58 K/9 rate killed him.
Tyson Ross and Brett Anderson had the same 2.52 K/BB mark. Anderson struck out 5.79 per nine, Ross 9.73.
BIG FLIES EVERYWHERE
| Name | HR/9 | Name | HR/9 | |
| Ian Kennedy | 1.66 | Marco Estrada | 1.19 | |
| Rubby de la Rosa | 1.53 | Trevor Bauer | 1.18 | |
| CC Sabathia | 1.51 | Alfredo Simon | 1.16 | |
| Dan Haren | 1.49 | Bartolo Colon | 1.16 | |
| James Shields | 1.47 | Colby Lewis | 1.14 | |
| Hector Santiago | 1.44 | Danny Salazar | 1.12 | |
| Aaron Harang | 1.36 | Jordan Zimmermann | 1.07 | |
| Taijuan Walker | 1.33 | Tom Koehler | 1.06 | |
| Wei-Yin Chen | 1.32 | Max Scherzer | 1.06 | |
| Rick Porcello | 1.31 | R.A. Dickey | 1.05 | |
| John Danks | 1.22 | Chris Tillman | 1.04 | |
| Jeff Samardzija | 1.22 | Mike Leake | 1.03 | |
| Julio Teheran | 1.21 | Felix Hernandez | 1.03 | |
| Jason Hammel | 1.21 | Jon Niese | 1.02 | |
| Mike Fiers | 1.20 | Mark Buehrle | 1.00 |
Ian Kennedy often allows a lot of flies that end in the seats, but this is nuts. The guy has a poor 1.12 career mark, but 1.66 is just obnoxious.
Dan Haren’s marks since 2012: 1.43, 1.49, 1.31 and 1.49.
Shields had been under 1.00 each of the previous four seasons.
Santiago had a flat out dangerous 0.56 GB/FB rate with a nearly 54 percent fly ball rate. His HR/9 rate won’t be going down too much with that many fly balls.
Porcello was lit up at 1.31 per nine. The previous four seasons the mark was 0.92 or lower.
Marco Estrada’s 1.19 rate was a three-year low (1.34 and 1.73).
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