By Brian Joura
In 2021, Adrian Houser had a 4.31 xFIP, while in 2023 he had a 4.30 mark in the same category. But he didn’t achieve those nearly identical marks in nearly the same way. As you know, FIP looks to strip away luck by concentrating on what’s in a pitcher’s control – BB, Ks and HR. And xFIP takes it a step further, looking to normalize HR rate, since that can be more luck than skill, too. And in these two seasons that were extremely similar, Houser had a 3.22 ERA in ’21 and a 4.12 ERA last year.
In ’21, Houser racked up his impressive ERA thanks to an elite 59.0 GB%, the third consecutive season he posted a mark in the 50s and the highest rate of his career. He got this thanks to a power sinker, one that averaged 93.6 mph. Houser threw the sinker 54.2% of the time, making it his primary pitch. He threw his four-seamer just 13.4% of the time in ’21. Statcast rated his sinker at 25.0 runs above average, easily the best results of anyone who threw at least 120 innings that year. Adam Wainwright was second, with a 17.5 mark.
No comments:
Post a Comment