In response to my last post comparing starting position players in NL East through April there was a flood of requests to do a similar visualization for pitchers. Ok, ok, it was just one commenter. Regardless, what the people want, the people get.
So without further delay, I present for you NL East starters with >=10 innings pitches and their fielding independent pitching (FIP) numbers through April.
A few thoughts:
- So, yeah, the NL East is lush with great starting pitching.
- It's not surprising that the Phillies and Braves have been the two best teams at keep runs off the board so far this season.
- Javier Vasquez's incompetence nicely balances out John Johnson's brilliance over the first month.
- I'm so glad Omar spent all that money on Oliver Perez and not Derek Lowe.
- Wow, that's a lot of orange below the NL average. The Mets have one starter with a FIP better than the NL average--Dillon Gee. That's not exactly a recipe for success.
Bill Petti is a regular columnist at Beyond the Box Score and an occasional contributor to Amazin' Avenue. He can also be found on Twitter at @BillPetti.