Orioles not on Trach, unlike pitcher

Steve Trachsel will get the start today for the Baltimore Orioles. He’s entering with a 3.86 ERA and a record of two wins and three losses. He was signed in the eleventh hour because Kris Benson went down for the season. No one knew what to expect from him. He’s coming off a 2006 season with the Mets, racking up fifteen wins, but was blessed with huge run support. He had an ERA of around five last season. This season he has been a pleasant surprise. 8 of his 9 games started, he’s given up 3 or less earned runs. Not bad for a fifth starter. With the high ERA posted in his last season in the National League, it was assumed he’d implode in the American League, where there are nine hitters in a batting lineup. The Orioles need this bright spot, as unlikely as it might have been predicted, because their team is gravely underachieving with the talented personnel that they have.

Abreu isn't that bad

No, not Bobby Abreu. Winston Abreu, who broke into the major leagues in 2006 with the Baltimore Orioles at age 29, currently has an ERA of 3.24 with the Washington Nationals. This season, he’s striking out around ten batters per nine innings. He’s given up only six hits and two walks in his 8 1/3 innings pitched resulting in a WHIP of less than one. So far he’s looked like a solid pitcher coming out of the Nationals’ bullpen. On the contrary to the all right handed pitchers, he’s holding the opposing batting average of lefties to .174 as opposed to .286 to righties in his career. He has fifteen career strikeouts, twelve of them being right handed hitters. Based on these numbers in his early career, Abreu is not necessarily a specialist pitcher out of the bullpen. He holds lefties to a low batting average and strikes out righties.

This season, minus the game that he lost, his ERA is 1.17 and the game he had a loss for, the only gave up two runs against his former team. Sure he’s still early in his major league career, but from what he’s shown so far this season he is a pitcher to keep an eye on.

Untangling the Webb

As the Rockies have proven this season, Brandon Webb is human. He’s no superman with his super sink on his fastballs.

Don’t get me wrong, Webb is a solid pitcher and his Cy Young Award was well deserved. He’s been pitching well for a team that has looked confused since their World Series victory over the Yankees in 2001, although now the Diamondbacks have some nice young talent coming up. Power hitters hit few balls out of the park when facing Webb. His natural sink on his pitches makes him a ground ball pitcher. It seems the Colorado Rockies know how to beat this pitcher.

As was seen yesterday, even though the Rockies did lose thanks to the clutch pitching of Jorge Julio and Jeremy Affeldt, the Rockies put 5 runs on the board against Webb. The most notable hit was that of second baseman Kaz Matsui’s opposite field slap of the ball giving him a two run double and capping off the 3 run 7^th inning, which gave the Rockies the lead at the time. In the 7^th inning, the success of Rockies was contingent on hits that were up the middle or hit the other way. If it works for the current last place team in the National League West, it must be good.

I think more teams should try this philosophy. I’m sure it’s not the first time it’s been mentioned, but as long as you don’t expect to clobber a homerun against him and just try to make contact up the middle or the other way with a level swing, beating Brandon Webb might be easier. Of course those hitters that are notorious pull hitters such as Barry Bonds and Carlos Delgado probably will not have as much success against Brandon Webb because they make their mark by pulling. Bonds does have a .300 batting average against Webb, but that’s in only 10 at bats and Webb has walked him 15 times. 10 at bats, 15 walks, even if Webb got out Bonds in each at bat it’s a .600 on base percentage. Delgado has a .273 batting average in only 11 at bats against Webb. Kaz Matsui, on the other hand, a guy who slaps the ball around and doesn’t depend on pulling the ball has a .474 batting average in 19 at bats. David Wright, another hitter that has a natural swing going the other way, holds a .400 batting average in 15 at bats against Webb.

This approach might be the ticket to beating Brandon Webb. Just make contact. Don’t go up to the plate assuming home run because if that’s the case, you’ll have no success, unless you’re lucky. Brandon Webb have very good control of his pitches, so don’t expect him to hang too many out there to be hammered, but just make contact with the pitches in the strike zone.