Reading the title of this post, you might be asking “Haven’t there always been intimidation pitchers?”. What I’m referring to, though, are pitchers who intimidate batters not only with their stuff, but also because the batter isn’t always sure where the next pitch may be headed.
To this point in the 2012 season, these three pitchers (min. 80 IP) are having dominating seasons, as evidenced by their ERAs and strikeout totals.
Rk |
Player |
Year |
BB |
ER |
IP |
Age |
Tm |
Lg |
G |
GS |
W |
L |
W-L% |
H |
R |
SO |
ERA |
ERA+ |
HR |
1 |
Brandon Beachy |
2012 |
29 |
18 |
81.0 |
25 |
ATL |
NL |
13 |
13 |
5 |
5 |
.500 |
49 |
24 |
68 |
2.00 |
200 |
6 |
2 |
Ryan Vogelsong |
2012 |
32 |
21 |
82.2 |
34 |
SFG |
NL |
12 |
12 |
6 |
2 |
.750 |
64 |
22 |
58 |
2.29 |
156 |
5 |
3 |
C.J. Wilson |
2012 |
38 |
22 |
86.0 |
31 |
LAA |
AL |
14 |
14 |
7 |
4 |
.636 |
57 |
26 |
76 |
2.30 |
166 |
4 |
But, they’re also on pace for allowing 50% more walks than earned runs, something that hasn’t been accomplished by 3 pitchers in the same season in more than 20 years (if it happens this year, the trio will have to include someone other than Beachy, who was shelved for the year today pending Tommy John surgery).
After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at this unusual pitching profile.
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