A look at our pitchers in May
I’ve been doing the hot and cold for the batters every two weeks, but two weeks for the pitchers doesn’t seem a long enough sample. Relievers will pitch half a dozen innings. Let’s look at the pitchers in May.
The Jays went 16-12 in May, and the pitchers had a 3.73 ERA.
Hot
Kevin Gausman: 5 starts, 3-1, 2.81 ERA. In 32 innings, batters hit .215/.221/.364 with 1 walk and 33 strikeouts.
Kevin was terrific all month. He gave up a walk in the first inning of his first start of the month and then didn’t give up another one all month. He had one bad start and one start that wasn’t great. The other three were excellent: 21 innings, 9 hits, 1 walk and 24 strikeouts. Three Quality Starts. One other was an out short of a Quality Start. He’s a ton of fun to watch when pitching like this.
José Berríos: 6 starts, 1-1, 3.50 ERA, In 36 innings, batters hit .226/.309/.368 with 13 walks and 37 strikeouts.
Five of the six starts were Quality Starts. He threw between 5.1 and 6.2 innings and between 83 and 95 pitches in each, which is pretty consistent. Speaking of consistency, he’s made 32 starts in each of his last four seasons, so I guess they know how to keep his pitch count in that 90 pitch range. He’s a nice mid-order pitcher to have. If you can be guaranteed 32 slightly better than average starts a season. It has a 108 ERA+ this season; last year it was 115. The previous two years, his bWAR has been in the mid-2s. We may be paying slightly too much for that, but then we know what we will get, and there is comfort in that.
Yariel Rodríguez: 13 games, 0-0, 5 holds, 0.53 ERA. In 17 innings, batters hit .118/.164/.118, 3 walks and 18 strikeouts.
He’s been terrific. Not a single extra-base hit against. I like that he’s used for two innings on occasion. I wouldn’t mind him going for more if needed.
Brendon Little: 12 games, 3-0, 4 holds, 0.00 ERA. In 13.1 innings, batters hit .136/.269/.159 with 7 walks and 16 strikeouts.
He’s been a massive surprise to me. Whoever saw something in him deserves a raise. And likely Pete Walker. Baseball Savant says he’s throwing a sinker and a knuckle curve with a very occasional slider, all much the same as last year, but they are working that much better.
Mason Fluharty: 13 games, 2-1, 2 holds, 4.38 ERA. Batters hit .178/.229/.244 with 1 home run, 3 walks and 12 strikeouts.
He had one bad outing against the Rays, but we lost that game 13-0. He gave up four runs in that mess. He didn’t cost us the game, but then we were only down 4-0 when he came into the game.
Cold
Jeff Hoffman: 12 games, 1-2, 7 saves, 3 blown saves. In 10 innings, batters hit .318/.400/.727 with 5 home runs, 6 walks and 14 strikeouts.
I’m not an expert or anything, but I think things aren’t going well when your closer gives up 5 home runs in 10 innings. He went into May with a 1.17 ERA and exited with a 6.04 ERA. He’s giving up six home runs this season, two each on his four-seam fastball, slider and split finger. The split finger is being hit hardest, but each of the three has had moments. Everyone is allowed a bad month, but it better not carry over.
Chris Bassitt: 6 starts, 3-1, 5.06 ERA. in 33.1 innings, batters hit .309/.352/.515, 7 home runs, 8 walk and 30 strikeouts.
One Quality Start in the six starts. He made it to six innings in two of the six. Home runs are a good part of the issue. He allowed two home runs in April, seven in May. He had a great April, but his ERA doubled in May.
Bowden Francis: 5 starts, 0-2, 4.74 ERA.In 24.2 innings, batters hit .268/.327/.423, with 4 home runs, 8 walks and 23 strikeouts.
It was a better month than April. He had one Quality Start and one in which he went five innings without allowing a run. They seem set on not letting him have a third time through the order. But then batters are hitting .389/.463/.694 in his third time through. I’d prefer they use their eyes to make those sorts of decisions. If he’s going great, why not push it a little and see how it goes? In his last start, he threw five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and throwing only threw 75 pitches. Why not let him start the third time and judge what you see instead of sticking to a rule?
Chad Green: 11 games, 0-1, 3.97 ERA, 2 holds, 1 save. Batters hit .244/.311/.439 with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts.
He was having a good month and then gave up two runs in each of his last two outings. The one, it didn’t matter, we were up by seven. The other was a 0-0 tie, and he got the loss. He’s getting hit a lot harder than last year. He had a .650 OPS last year, .848 so far this year.
Yimi Garcia: 8 games, 0-2, 2 saves, 2 blown saves, 2 holds, 9.00. Batters hit .192/.344/.346 with 1 double, 1 home run, 6 walks and 8 strikeouts.
He had two terrible outings near the start of the month, giving up seven earned runs in 1 inning. Since then, five outings, with just two hits allowed. And now he’s on the IL.
Also Pitched
Easton Lucas: 1 game, 4.2 shutout innings, 0.00 ERA. 4 hits, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.
And he’s back in Buffalo.
Eric Lauer: 2 games, 1 start, 1 relief, 7.2 innings, 3.51 ERA. Allowed 6 hits, 2 home runs, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts.
He’s done well in his few appearances this season.
Paxton Schultz: 3 games, 1 as opener, 6.2 innings, 0.00 ERA. Allowed 4 hits, 1 home run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts.
José Ureña: 3 relief appearances, 5 innings, 0.00 ERA. Allowed 4 hits, 0 walks and 3 strikeouts.
He’s been DFAed, and is now a free agent. He was signed by the Dodgers today.
Michael Stefanic: Pitched in one game and got 3 outs, without allowing a baserunner.