The last four years have been tough on Dontrelle Willis. He started his Major League career with a bang, winning the 2003 National League Rookie of the Year award along with a shiny World Series ring when his Florida Marlins bested the New York Yankees in six games (thanks, Steve Bartman!). From 2003 to [...]

Prior to yesterday’s 5-3 win over the Boston Red Sox, the Philadelphia Phillies had lost 14 of their previous 19 games, a losing percentage of .737. In that span of time, the offense collectively got on base at a .292 clip and slugged .303. If Charlie Manuel instead cloned Eric Bruntlett eight times and sent [...]

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina has developed into quite the asset. He has earned two Gold Glove awards in each of the past two seasons and was nominated to his first career All-Star Game — in the starting lineup, no less — last year. Since Molina was called up to the Majors in 2004, [...]

“Ryan Howard is the preeminent power hitter of our generation!” yelled Philadelphia’s ESPN radio host Mike Missanelli, at guest Keith Law also of ESPN. It’s true: from 2006-09, Howard averaged 49.5 HR and 143 RBI per season. Over the past three calendar years, no one has hit more HR (139) or driven in more runs [...]

As mentioned in last week’s article, Sabermetrics wasn’t always so popular. When Bill James first applied statistical analysis to baseball, he was a night watchman at a pork-and-beans plant. The Internet was in its infancy and home computers were not yet a staple of the American home. Baseball stats were found on the backs of [...]

The Tampa Bay Rays have, by far, the best pitching staff in baseball. Their arms have allowed just a smidge over three runs per game on average and their worst starter, Wade Davis, has a 3.35 ERA. Only two relievers have disappointed: Andy Sonnanstine, whose ERA was at 2.20 before a four-run shellacking by the [...]

Sabermetrics used to be a niche segment of the baseball fan population. This was back before Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs and Beyond the Box Score. Number-crunchers would take to newsgroups and hypothesize and research and debate with like-minded baseball fanatics. Their findings would, generally speaking, produce but a faint echo out of mom’s basement. Hardly [...]

Tom Tango is the progenitor of yet another useful baseball statistic. With a catch-all offensive statistic (weighted on-base average) and a stat that focuses solely on what a pitcher can directly control (fielding-independent pitching statistic), Tango has recently spawned a stat that more precisely describes a relief pitcher’s contribution to his team’s chances of winning [...]

Heading into the start of the 2010 regular season, much of the focus was on the unlimited potential of prospects like Jason Heyward, Stephen Strasburg, Austin Jackson, and Mike Stanton. When will Strasburg be called up to the Majors? Will Heyward lead the Braves to their first playoff appearance in five years? Can Jackson become [...]

Last Friday, we took a look at some hitters off to hot starts and made judgments on whether or not they are realistic and sustainable.  Today we will look at pitchers from the same angle.
Pitchers Who Won’t Keep It Up

Livan Hernandez, Washington Nationals

Livan has been a magician in his first four starts, compiling a 0.87 [...]