Today's leaderboard looks for improving starting pitchers. For the benchmark, first- and second-half strikeout rate minus walk rate (K-BB%) was used. I limited the sample to pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched in the first half and at least 10 inning pitched in the second.
Here are the top 25 improvers in K-BB% so far in the second half:
Name | 1H K-BB% | 2H K-BB% | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
21.1% | 41.6% | 20.5% | |
5.8% | 25.0% | 19.2% | |
2.3% | 20.0% | 17.7% | |
18.2% | 35.1% | 16.9% | |
9.9% | 24.8% | 14.8% | |
10.8% | 25.5% | 14.6% | |
12.9% | 26.4% | 13.5% | |
23.9% | 35.5% | 11.6% | |
22.8% | 34.1% | 11.2% | |
17.4% | 27.9% | 10.5% | |
12.2% | 22.5% | 10.4% | |
9.6% | 20.0% | 10.4% | |
6.7% | 16.3% | 9.6% | |
5.5% | 14.8% | 9.3% | |
18.1% | 27.0% | 8.9% | |
33.2% | 42.0% | 8.8% | |
13.0% | 21.7% | 8.7% | |
17.7% | 26.1% | 8.4% | |
16.6% | 24.7% | 8.1% | |
16.7% | 24.3% | 7.6% | |
5.8% | 13.0% | 7.2% | |
6.1% | 13.2% | 7.1% | |
9.6% | 16.5% | 6.9% | |
13.4% | 20.2% | 6.9% | |
6.2% | 12.6% | 6.4% |
Many of these guys are universally rostered, so I'll ignore them and instead focus on the guys who could be added from the waiver wire.
Erick Fedde (7% rostered): Over the course of the season, Fedde has moved in and out of the rotation. He's made one major post-break improvement, dropping his walk rate from 3.5 BB/9 to 1.5
Today's leaderboard looks for improving starting pitchers. For the benchmark, first- and second-half strikeout rate minus walk rate (K-BB%) was used. I limited the sample to pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched in the first half and at least 10 inning pitched in the second.
Here are the top 25 improvers in K-BB% so far in the second half:
Name | 1H K-BB% | 2H K-BB% | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
21.1% | 41.6% | 20.5% | |
5.8% | 25.0% | 19.2% | |
2.3% | 20.0% | 17.7% | |
18.2% | 35.1% | 16.9% | |
9.9% | 24.8% | 14.8% | |
10.8% | 25.5% | 14.6% | |
12.9% | 26.4% | 13.5% | |
23.9% | 35.5% | 11.6% | |
22.8% | 34.1% | 11.2% | |
17.4% | 27.9% | 10.5% | |
12.2% | 22.5% | 10.4% | |
9.6% | 20.0% | 10.4% | |
6.7% | 16.3% | 9.6% | |
5.5% | 14.8% | 9.3% | |
18.1% | 27.0% | 8.9% | |
33.2% | 42.0% | 8.8% | |
13.0% | 21.7% | 8.7% | |
17.7% | 26.1% | 8.4% | |
16.6% | 24.7% | 8.1% | |
16.7% | 24.3% | 7.6% | |
5.8% | 13.0% | 7.2% | |
6.1% | 13.2% | 7.1% | |
9.6% | 16.5% | 6.9% | |
13.4% | 20.2% | 6.9% | |
6.2% | 12.6% | 6.4% |
Many of these guys are universally rostered, so I'll ignore them and instead focus on the guys who could be added from the waiver wire.
Erick Fedde (7% rostered): Over the course of the season, Fedde has moved in and out of the rotation. He's made one major post-break improvement, dropping his walk rate from 3.5 BB/9 to 1.5 BB/9, with his ball percentage dropping from 40 percent to 38 percent. That reduced walk rate has him with a 3.93 xFIP and 1.25 WHIP, and since he's pounding the strike zone, his strikeout rate has jumped from 6.1 K/9 to 8.2 K/9.
If he rejoins the rotation, he would be a nice streaming option.
Jacob Lopez (43% rostered): Right now, Lopez needs to be added in all leagues. Of the 117 pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched in the second half, his 20 percent K-BB% ranks 27th. That's higher than Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert and Chase Burns.
Most of the improvement comes from throwing more strikes, with his ball percentage dropping from 39.8 percent to 36.5 percent. He didn't change his pitch mix or velocity, just attacked the zone more. Now he just needs to keep it up.
Kyle Leahy (87% rostered): Leahy started the season as a streaming option, but he's transforming into something more by not walking anyone. In 28 innings in the second half, he's walked two batters (0.6 BB/9). Additionally, he upped his groundball rate from 44 percent to 53 percent.
I dug way too much into his pitch mix and shapes to find any changes. He's made many small changes, with the biggest being a drop in his four-seam usage from 29 percent to 21 percent.
Tyler Mahle (54% rostered): Like Lopez, Mahle is a must-add if still available. His 22.5 percent K-BB% ranks 20th among second-half starters. He has shown several improvements to take the step forward.
First, he ditched an ineffective slider (10 percent swinging strike rate, 39 percent zone rate). Second, his average fastball velocity increased from 92.4 mph to 93.4 mph. Finally, he dropped his walk rate from 3.7 BB/9 to 2.2 BB/9.
Grayson Rodriguez (21% rostered): While Rodriguez has shown improvement, his walk rate started at 4.7 BB/9 and is down only to 3.8 BB/9. The walks lead to a 1.46 WHIP, which is doing as much ratio damage as a 5.26 ERA. He's better but still not rosterable.
Joey Cantillo (96% rostered): While Cantillo's core skills have improved, he has a .473 BABIP in the second half, so his ERA has jumped from 3.56 to 5.79.
It's tough to get a read on his talent because his pitch mix has been bouncing around all season:
For now, he's leaning into his curve and four-seamer while ditching his slider. I wonder if his results will stabilize once his pitch mix stabilizes.
Tyler Phillips (0% rostered): He started too far away from being a rosterable talent. A drop in walk rate from 4.2 BB/9 to 2.0 BB/9 is doing all the heavy lifting. He's improved from a 5.00 ERA talent to a 4.50 ERA talent.
Kumar Rocker (52% rostered): An improved strikeout rate (8.4 K/9 to 9.9 K/9) has him going from unrosterable to streamable. The additional strikeouts are coming from throwing his fastball more and dropping a changeup in mid-June.
