(*) STARTERS: Early Surprises
Apr 29 2012
Many starting pitchers have fared better than expected in the early going.
Some of these surprises come with strong skill support. Others are flukes.
Identifying the flukes before their results regress can help you avoid bad stats.
Likewise, holding on to guys whose quick starts come with skill support can help you build your starting rotation for the long-haul.
Let's take a look at both groups.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Bruce Chen (LHP, KC) has a 2.52 ERA and 0.92 WHIP after 25 IP. It'd be easy to dismiss this as a small sample size fluke. But he has been a legit command artist so far: 6.1 Dom, 1.4 Ctl, 34% GB%, 83 BPV. We can't expect any more Dom than what he is showing now, given his 86.1 mph average fastball velocity. He's also...
Almost!
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