Chicks Love These Starting Pitchers

by Ray Guilfoyle on May 7, 2011 11:24 AM EDT in Baseball

We all know that chicks love the long ball, right? Ever since the commercials with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, the saying has been pretty popular amongst baseball fans. Well, I was looking at some starting pitcher stats this morning over at Fangraphs and noticed some horrific HR/9 rates in the early going in 2011. Of course, looking at stats through May 6th, we can expect these stats to normalize over the course of the season, but here's a look at some starting pitchers who have caught the eye of the chicks in the ballpark, because they are giving up the big fly pretty frequently this season:

1. Armando Galarraga, ARI-Galarraga is giving up the long ball at a rate of just over 3 HRs every 9 innings so far this season. And his ERA shows it. His ERA sits at 5.29 right now, mainly due to his HR/9 and 25% HR/FB rate.

2. Colby Lewis, TEX-I was asked plenty of times during our offseason fantasy baseball chats, what my thoughts were on Lewis. I think Fake Teams readers asked about him more than any other player in pre-season. Lewis is giving up a rate of 2.61 per 9 innings thus far. His ERA is 5.21 right now and his strand rate is approaching 79% so his ERA may climb a bit higher from here, but his HR/9 will drop.

More starting pitchers who chicks dig after the jump:

3. Ryan Dempster, CHC-Dempster has been the subject of much discussion due to his unexpected start to the 2011 season but facing the LA Dodgers will cure the ills of many starting pitchers right now due to the lineup they run out there every day. Dempster pitched well in that start against the Dodgers. Part of the reason for his bad start is the number of HRs he is giving up. He is giving up just over 2 HRs every 9 innings and his 8.05 ERA, but his xFIP of 3.88 says there are better days ahead for him.

4. Luke Hochevar, KC- Hochevar is giving up the big fly at a rate of 2.03 every 9 innings vs last year where he gave up less than one home run every nine innings. His ERA of 5.48 is a direct result of his HR/9 rate and his 21/3% HR/FB rate. As stated before, the HR rate will normailze and we will see if Hochevar is the potential ace bestowed upon him when he was drafted as the first overall pick back in the 2006 Rule 4 draft.

5. Brett Myers, HOU-Myers is coming off a very good 2010 season which saw him go 14-8 with a 3.14 ERA and 1.24 WHIP, and many, including me, wondered if this was the new Brett Myers or just a career year. Well, it appears he has gone back to being the old Brett Myers in the early going of the 2011 season, as he is giving up almost 2 HRs every 9 innings. His 4.47 ERA isn't terrible, but it isn't very good either. Myers has always given up plenty of long balls, but this year he is approaching his previous high of 2.29 HR/9 in 70 IP in 2009. I expect the HR rate to come down, but am not sure we will ever see the low 3.00 ERA from Myers again.

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