Here are the twenty-one pitchers by lowest BABIP who have made at least two starts this season. I have become more interested in BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) because other fantasy experts continually refer to it as an indicator of impending disaster for those whose BABIPs are much lower than the average of .300.
Because I am not accustomed to using this statistic (courtesy of Baseball Prospectus), I decided to show a pitchers' historic season BABIPs to get a sense of how far from the average .300 he has strayed. I believe this offers more information about a particular pitcher and also helps me become more familar with how it varies from season to season.
I intend to hit this stat frequently this week if only to become used to seeing it and trying to use it for fantasy advantages. Tomorrow, I will do the opposite list and later in the week I will do one with past season's leaders to see how they are doing this season.
As a reminder, make your entry in The Worst Fantasy Baseball Season So Far by Wednesday for the chance to win an annual Baseball Prospectus subscription.
| Player | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dontrelle Willis | 0.071 | 0.329 | 0.316 | 0.290 | 0.312 |
| Armando Galarraga | 0.125 | 0.250 | NA | NA | NA |
| Erik Bedard | 0.152 | 0.287 | 0.314 | 0.323 | 0.326 |
| Cliff Lee | 0.153 | 0.304 | 0.300 | 0.282 | 0.309 |
| Gavin Floyd | 0.159 | 0.312 | 0.322 | 0.298 | 0.304 |
| Ben Sheets | 0.183 | 0.287 | 0.342 | 0.281 | 0.292 |
| Scott Olsen | 0.187 | 0.354 | 0.285 | 0.291 | NA |
| Shaun Marcum | 0.187 | 0.271 | 0.313 | 0.250 | NA |
| Ryan Dempster | 0.193 | 0.279 | 0.324 | 0.316 | 0.259 |
| Aaron Cook | 0.218 | 0.290 | 0.308 | 0.307 | 0.314 |
| Johnny Cueto | 0.220 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Rich Hill | 0.220 | 0.278 | 0.259 | 0.306 | NA |
| Daisuke Matsuzaka | 0.221 | 0.302 | NA | NA | NA |
| Joe Saunders | 0.222 | 0.334 | 0.307 | 0.233 | NA |
| Brian Bannister | 0.222 | 0.264 | 0.252 | NA | NA |
| Micah Owings | 0.222 | 0.279 | NA | NA | NA |
| Tim Redding | 0.231 | 0.285 | NA | 0.337 | 0.330 |
| Yovani Gallardo | 0.231 | 0.305 | NA | NA | NA |
| Nelson Figueroa | 0.232 | NA | NA | NA | 0.304 |
| John Danks | 0.233 | 0.317 | NA | NA | NA |
| Daniel Cabrera | 0.234 | 0.308 | 0.32 | 0.294 | 0.279 |