Daily Graphing – Jon Garland

Guess what? Another White Sox player. I keep expecting them to stop winning, but it just isn't happening! Anyway, onto Jon Garland who had a career high 18 wins and a career low 3.50 ERA. He doesn't exactly have overpowering stuff so perhaps we need to put him in the category of crafty lef… righty?

If you take a look at his strikeouts per 9 innings, you'll see he's been consistently unable to strike batters out. He's made up for this by limiting his walks to just under 2 per game.

Just goes to show what keeping runners off base will do for you. This isn't the only thing Jon Garland has going for him. Remember just a second ago when I called him a crafty righty? That's because batters can't seem to get hits off him even when they do make contact.

His Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) from year to year remains remarkably low, and this season it was his lowest ever. Actually, since he's entered the league in 2000, he has the lowest BABIP of any right handed starter. The only pitcher who has a lower BABIP than him is Barry Zito (that doesn't surprise me).

The skeptic in me says there's no way Jon Garland can repeat last season, but I have to say as long as he can keep his walks down like he did this year, there's no reason he can't continue to be a reliable inning eater.