2009 season, Matthias, Sabermetrics, Toronto Blue Jays

The Paradoxical Scott Richmond

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The Paradoxical Scott Richmond

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I went on the record at the start of the season stating that Scott Richmond wasn’t a major league starter. I took some heat but I defended my position. Now as the season winds to a close I have to admit that his up and down campaign leaves more questions than it does answers.

A quick look at his overall stat line of 6-9, 4.76 ERA and 1.38 WHIP screams out back-end starter or a long-relief pitcher.

But when taking a look inside his stats he looks like an front-line starter or a complete bum. There really is no in-between.

BABIP

In the first half of the season he held opponents to a .246 BABIP. This is a very lucky rate. No pitcher in the MLB this season has a overall season BABIP lower than .246. No one, including Roy Halladay, Carpenter, Greinke, Lincecum, etc.

In the second half Scott has allowed an extremely unlucky .394 BABIP. To put that rate into perspective only three hitters in the entire MLB have a BABIP of .394 or above

Great Stats:

While I don’t have the number in front of me Richmond is always in the top 10 lists over at ESPN at opponent swing and misses. His out-of-the-zone swing percentage is the 5th best in all of baseball (30%+), an elite stat. His K/9 is close to 8, and his overall K/BB ratio is over 2.

Terrible Stats:

On the negative side Richmond has the fifth highest line drive percentage in all of baseball (22.6%). Also he’s allowed the seventh highest HR/9 rate in the majors at 1.46.

Where does he stand?

What do you think? What should Scott’s role be on the 2010 Toronto Blue Jays?

Matthias Koster
Written By

has written for mopupduty.com since 2006. Follow Matthias on Twitter, Facebook and Google +

  • MK

    I wonder what he might be like if he had a consistent pitching schedule the way the other rookie starters did. I have to wonder if being skipped so often made it difficult to maintain his strong start.

  • First, I don’t think that a K:BB around 2 or slightly over 2 is really considered “great.” Second, I agree with everything else you said. I guess one thing you’d have to wait for is to see if Halladay gets traded because that’s one more rotation spot available.

  • daperman

    Richmond threw the absolute worst pitch of the year in a Blue Jays 6-5 loss to Boston about a month ago. After Barahas had give the Jays a 5-3 lead with a two run homer Richmond in the next half inning goes out and gives it right back. An 0-2 pitch to Jason Bay with a runner on. Rance had barely got the words out not to give Bay anything near the plate and I was running to the TV set trying to intercept the pitch before Bay who thought he went to heaven and died parked it over the Monster. a hanging curve that cut the heart of the plate. And all Jamie Campbell could say was that one BC boy beat won over another BC boy.

    A close second was the 3-2 pitch he threw to Miguel Cabera against Detroit after Jays had just tied the score and in the very next half inning a single a 3-2 walk after going 3-0 and then the same pattern to Cabera. Only this time the 3-2 pitch was blasted.

    A disturbing pattern in that in several other games just after Blue Jays score Richmond is prone to giving up the big hit in the very next half inning. another example 5-2 loss in Oakland early in the year.