Demoted: The Fourth-Best Starter of the Last Month
With a view towards collecting the sort of hot internet clicks that’ll keep him employed into the near future, the author has purposely attached a half-divisive title to this short weblog post. That having been said, one notes that nothing about its (i.e. the headline’s) contents is actually incorrect.
Regard, by way of illustration, the pitching leaderboard below — which leaderboard features the top-10 qualified starters of the last 30 days by park-adjusted xFIP.
| # | Name | Team | GS | IP | K% | BB% | GB% | ERA- | FIP- | xFIP- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyson Ross | Padres | 5 | 35.0 | 30.8% | 3.8% | 51.2% | 29 | 47 | 52 |
| 2 | Stephen Strasburg | Nationals | 5 | 32.2 | 30.3% | 5.3% | 44.6% | 98 | 79 | 57 |
| 3 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | Dodgers | 5 | 28.1 | 26.9% | 3.4% | 49.4% | 126 | 62 | 59 |
| 4 | Josh Tomlin | Indians | 5 | 31.1 | 24.2% | 0.8% | 38.5% | 121 | 101 | 60 |
| 5 | Yu Darvish | Rangers | 5 | 30.0 | 33.1% | 4.8% | 36.8% | 94 | 67 | 61 |
| 6 | Felix Hernandez | Mariners | 5 | 38.0 | 32.6% | 7.3% | 61.4% | 31 | 60 | 62 |
| 7 | Jacob deGrom | Mets | 5 | 32.1 | 29.7% | 5.5% | 46.3% | 40 | 40 | 65 |
| 8 | Corey Kluber | Indians | 5 | 38.2 | 27.4% | 3.4% | 56.0% | 49 | 59 | 65 |
| 9 | Zack Greinke | Dodgers | 5 | 34.2 | 28.3% | 5.8% | 54.5% | 66 | 65 | 65 |
| 10 | Garrett Richards | Angels | 5 | 36.1 | 28.6% | 5.7% | 56.8% | 60 | 60 | 66 |
Of note regarding that leaderboard is how it features Cleveland right-hander Josh Tomlin. Over five starts, beginning with June 28th, Tomlin pitched like one who would prevent runs at a rate about 40% better than league average. He didn’t do that, of course, but his fielding-independent numbers indicate that such a performance wouldn’t have been a surprise.
If and when he does begin preventing runs at an above-average rate, Josh Tomlin will likely be doing that for Triple-A Columbus after having been demoted over the weekend.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
The daily refresh of data seems to have obscured the point you were trying to make at a particular time. Tomlin appears to have not “qualified” if one counts the previous 30 days. But if one lowers the threshold to 20 innings, then he is still a respectable 12th (69 xFIP-).