Our reigning Cy Young Award Winner is struggling so far in 2017. It appears that his velocity is fine, if not better than last year. Here are some other comps between 2016 and 2017 and Career, in that order:
Stat 2016 2017 Career
K/9 7.6 8.5 6.2
BB/9 1.3 1.8 2.0
H/9 7.8 11.8 9.8
HR/9 0.9 1.5 1.0
WHIP 1.009 1.512 1.318
ERA 3.14 4.67 4.23
ERA+ 142 97 101
FIP 3.40 3.94 3.94
I'm concerned, because average Rick Porcello is not super inspiring, and with EdRo down and his knee possibly an issue that can pop up at any time, Wright and his possibility of being good completely gone, Pomeranz erratic, unable to go deep, and inconsistent, and Price still figuring out how to pitch with an elbow that's not quite right, we need Porcello to be a reliable horse. We don't need Cy Young, but we need a solid #2/#3 who can be a stopper once in awhile.
I can see the stats, but am not as good as many here who can analyze them to effect. So, is this just luck? Is the contact he's getting much harder, resulting in more line drives and home runs? Is the sinker not sinking for a reason? Are more ground balls finding holes? Is he just regressing back to his average self, and this is the guy we can expect from here out (it looks like it)? Maybe last year was the major positive outlier season in his career?
Am I over-fretting?
Stat 2016 2017 Career
K/9 7.6 8.5 6.2
BB/9 1.3 1.8 2.0
H/9 7.8 11.8 9.8
HR/9 0.9 1.5 1.0
WHIP 1.009 1.512 1.318
ERA 3.14 4.67 4.23
ERA+ 142 97 101
FIP 3.40 3.94 3.94
I'm concerned, because average Rick Porcello is not super inspiring, and with EdRo down and his knee possibly an issue that can pop up at any time, Wright and his possibility of being good completely gone, Pomeranz erratic, unable to go deep, and inconsistent, and Price still figuring out how to pitch with an elbow that's not quite right, we need Porcello to be a reliable horse. We don't need Cy Young, but we need a solid #2/#3 who can be a stopper once in awhile.
I can see the stats, but am not as good as many here who can analyze them to effect. So, is this just luck? Is the contact he's getting much harder, resulting in more line drives and home runs? Is the sinker not sinking for a reason? Are more ground balls finding holes? Is he just regressing back to his average self, and this is the guy we can expect from here out (it looks like it)? Maybe last year was the major positive outlier season in his career?
Am I over-fretting?