Fantasy Baseball: NL 2nd Half Command Leaders

by Ray Guilfoyle on Aug 26, 2009 12:30 PM EDT in Baseball

Today we take a look at the NL Command leaders since the All Star break. Command, as I define it, is K/9-BB/9, and is usually a better indicator of how well a pitcher is pitching than Wins. There are so many variables in trying to predict a win such as run support and bullpen performance to name a few.

Here are the Command leaders:

Player	INN	W	L	K	BBI	ERA	WHIP	K/9	BB/9	CMD
Scherzer, Max SP ARI	37	2	2	45	10	5.35	1.51	10.95	2.43	8.51
Harden, Rich SP CHC	44	3	1	55	14	1.64	0.77	11.25	2.86	8.39
Lincecum, Tim SP SF	57.7	2	2	65	17	2.65	1.02	10.14	2.65	7.49
Vazquez, Javier SP ATL	50	4	2	50	12	3.6	1.1	9.00	2.16	6.84
De La Rosa, Jorge SP COL	46	6	1	47	13	4.11	1.33	9.20	2.54	6.65
Lee, Cliff SP PHI	65	8	0	53	6	0.97	0.8	7.34	0.83	6.51
Johnson, Josh SP FLA	44.3	5	1	40	8	3.45	1.04	8.13	1.63	6.50
Nolasco, Ricky SP FLA	50	3	1	50	14	4.5	1.16	9.00	2.52	6.48
Hanson, Tommy SP ATL	45.7	5	2	44	12	3.35	1.23	8.67	2.36	6.30
Sanchez, Jonathan SP SF	40.7	3	2	49	22	3.54	1.2	10.84	4.86	5.97
Haren, Dan SP ARI	44	3	3	38	10	4.91	1.27	7.77	2.05	5.73
VandenHurk, Rick SP FLA	31.7	2	2	33	13	5.12	1.39	9.37	3.69	5.68
Dempster, Ryan SP CHC	38	2	2	33	10	4.03	1.32	7.82	2.37	5.45
Petit, Yusmeiro SP ARI	38.3	2	5	35	12	4.46	1.33	8.22	2.82	5.40
Carpenter, Chris SP STL	62	7	0	47	10	1.74	1.08	6.82	1.45	5.37
Harang, Aaron SP CIN	51.3	1	6	47	17	4.91	1.46	8.25	2.98	5.26
Wainwright, Adam SP STL	56.7	5	2	42	9	1.59	1.13	6.67	1.43	5.24
Jurrjens, Jair SP ATL	42	3	1	35	11	3.21	1.26	7.50	2.36	5.14
Kershaw, Clayton SP LA	46	2	2	52	26	2.35	1.3	10.17	5.09	5.09
Wolf, Randy SP LA	55	4	3	43	12	3.11	1	7.04	1.96	5.07

A couple guys who sneeked onto the list that I did not expect are Tommy Hanson, Jonathan Sanchez, Rick VandenHurk and Max Scherzer. These are a few names that should be on your watch lists for possible breakout years in 2010.

Jonathan Sanchez seems to have turned things around since he was sent to the minors a few months back, and his no-hitter vs the Padres was not a fluke performance as he has pitched very well for the Giants since the All Star break.

If Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter continue to pitch like they have since the All Star break, they will both give Tim Lincecum a run for the Cy Young award this year.

Poll

Who gets drafted higher in 2010?

Max Scherzer

14 votes

Rick VandenHurk

1 votes

Jonathan Sanchez

5 votes

Tommy Hanson

66 votes

86 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Why do you define it this way instead of K/BB?

by ILLZ on Aug 26, 2009 7:59 PM EDT reply actions

you know

I was thinking about that on my drive home from work this evening…and I know Shandler uses k/bb, but I swear I saw it defined this way elsewhere at some point last offseason because I used it to rank pitchers in spring training. Maybe it was THT or Bill James….gotta check.

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Aug 26, 2009 11:09 PM EDT reply actions

Alright

If you come across something keep us posted. I’ve never seen it defined this way, or seen this stat used for anything, so I’m interested to find out what I’ve been missing out on.

by ILLZ on Aug 27, 2009 8:37 AM EDT up reply actions