Atlanta Braves: Composition of a Cy Young Award Winner (Part 1)
By Seth Carter
Different Methods, Same Results
I think we can all agree that Cinnamon Toast Crunch is delicious. Some people pour the cereal in the bowl, then add milk. Some people go milk first, then cereal. Some weirdos eat the cereal dry and wash it down with a gulp of milk. They can just leave… they aren’t real Braves’ fans.
I have made brownies in the adult-oven and made them with my daughter in an Easy Bake Oven, and guess what? They both taste delicious.
My point is, there are many different ways to get to a satisfying result, and evidently the same can be said for the Cy Young.
Why is Verlander’s hard-hit rate not that big of a deal? Players like Madison Bumgarner, Shane Bieber, Jake Odorizzi, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and Domingo German all finished ahead of Verlander in hard-hit rate. Those guys still faired fairly well last season.
You can’t dismiss it entirely though, players like Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Stephen Strasburg, Yu Darvish, Zack Wheeler, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton, and Hyun-Jin Ryu were among the league leaders in lowest hard-hit rates (which is not to be confused with soft-hit rates…don’t get confused!)
What is the point of all of this?
Different approaches produce different results. The reason I laid all those stats out is to compare the seemingly similar Cy Young winners from last year. Verlander was hit hard. He challenged hitters up and he welcomed the flyball-outs in exchange for a few more homers (and increased K-rate).
Jacob deGrom gave up 10.6% fewer flyballs than Verlander and had a much lower HR/FB rate. deGrom gave up .84 HRs/9 while Verlander gave up 1.45/9.
The Mets’ ace was one of the least hard-hit pitchers in the league and both guys end up with similar final numbers and Cy Young awards on their mantles, right next to their gaming systems.
So, different approaches, different batted-ball stats, similar back of the baseball cards.
Back of the Baseball Cards
deGrom: 2.43 ERA, .97 WHIP, 11.25 K/9, 1.94 BB/9
Verlander: 2.58 ERA, .80 WHIP, 12.11 K/9, 1.70 BB/9
It’s hard to believe Verlander gave up 36 homers last season, but when you strike out over 35% of the poor souls that step into the box, homers don’t make too big of an impact.
A run here, a run there… “hit me hard, if you can hit me!”