As promised, let’s split up the starters from the relievers. Rather than set an innings barrier, I instead opted to eliminate all of those with less than 50% of their appearances coming in the form of starts. Our friendly neighborhood Ryan Franklin no longer qualifies to be spoken about and the overall numbers drop like you would expect. Here’s the causality breakdown:
5 P – 7 dropped
4 P – 34 dropped
3 P – 64 dropped
2 P – 30 dropped
That leaves:
5 P – 21 pitchers
4 P – 85
3 P – 70
2 P – 9
How did they fare?
If you’re thinking to yourself that those numbers look a lot like those presented yesterday, then you have a good memory. In fact, here’s the differentials between yesterday and today:
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Note that a negative value indicates a drop in FIP.
5 P: 0.02 runs
4 P: 0.03 runs
3 P: 0.08 runs
2 P: 0.66 runs
As expected, looking at mostly starters sees the run averages increase.
To address some concerns from this analysis:
I’m not looking at grips, arm slots, release points, etc. instead simply the classification of the pitch. Some of the classifications are erroneous or too simplistic for the pitch style. That’s understandable.
Also not looking at the quality of the pitch, that would take examination on a pitch-by-pitch basis.
Looking at individual pitchers before and after the addition of a new pitch is definitely something I’ll look into pursuing. No guarantees though.
One thing I wonder about is pitchers with more than one fastball. I know Josh Beckett throws a four seam and a two seam, but if you look at his player file, he shows up as a three pitch guy. I’m sure he’s not alone. I wonder how effective having two fastballs is. Given that there are guys who bother to throw two different fast balls, you have to think that there’s some value in it.