Jason Hammel got the start on opening day, but has largely been a disappointment in 2013. Wei-Yin Chen’s return from the disabled list this past week was met with the fanfare of a fan-approved trade acquisition. Jake Arrieta is now a member of the Chicago Cubs organization. Chris Tillman is evolving into what many perceive as the “ace” of the rotation. Meanwhile, Miguel Gonzalez keeps rolling along, producing quality start after quality start.
With a 6.2 inning outing versus the Texas Rangers last week (where he allowed four hits, two walks, and one earned run) Gonzalez picked up his seventh win of the season. It was also his seventh consecutive quality start. During that span he’s 5-1 with a 2.49 ERA versus the Astros, Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Indians, Yankees, and Rangers.
Opposing batters are hitting just .204/.264/.347 against Gonzalez over 47 innings.
During his recent run of success (June 6 – July 11) Miguel Gonzalez’s pitch frequency shows less reliance on the four-seam fastball and higher utilization of his sinker, with a slight uptick in velocity for both compared to his first nine starts of the season.
As far as the effectiveness of his pitches goes, here’s the breakdown.
An increase in strikes thrown compared to the first two months (66% to 63%) is highlighted by a shift to more strikes taken by batters (+3%) from strikes the result of a swing & miss (-3%).
Versus the Blue Jays on June 22 Gonzalez recorded 24 called strikes by the umpire, his highest total of 2013. His next two highest amounts (21 against the Indians on June 27 and 17 against the Angels on June 11) have also come during his last seven starts.
Gonzalez’s on-base percentage against (.264) and WHIP (1.02) since June 1 tell us how stingy he’s been in allowing men to reach base. Perhaps even more impressive than those numbers is the percentage that hasn’t scored. In five June games 84.6% of his base runners were stranded. So far in July 95.6% have failed to cross the plate.
According to Fan Graphs, the league average in recent years has typically been between 70-72% . Gonzalez was essentially average in April (71.8%), above average in May (75.9%), and has been in another stratosphere since.
On June 11 Gonzalez turned in his best performance of the season at the expense of the Los Angeles Angels.
I’ve heard people mention that Miguel Gonzalez might be the most (or among the most) underrated pitcher in the American League, or all of Major League Baseball. His arrival from relative obscurity in 2012 combined with playing for a team that now has household names like Adam Jones, Chris Davis, and Manny Machado probably plays a part.
A closer look sees Gonzalez with a 16-7 record, 3.36 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and opponents slash line of .234/.301/.390 in 206.1 career innings. His numbers this year are: 7-3, 3.48, 1.19, and .232/.298/.391 through 101 innings. Add to that the current stretch that takes him into the All-Star break tied with Chris Tillman for the team lead in quality starts with 12 and a string of strong performances to start the second half and the secret of Miguel Gonzalez could be out of the bag sooner rather than later.
Stats via Baseball Reference, pitch data courtesy of Brooks Baseball and Fan Graphs.
