Some very strange BAA and WHIP numbers regarding Clay Buchholz:
With the bases empty this season, he's well above league average, posting a 1.12 WHIP (1.27 WHIP for the AL with bases empty) and a .236 BAA (.245 AL).
But once runners get on bases, things turn ugly for Clay. With runners on, Clay posts a 1.30 WHIP (1.27 AL) and a .283 BAA (.251 AL).
And it's a flat out horror show if those runners are in scoring position. With RISP, Clay has a .348 BAA and a 1.92 WHIP. In those same situations, the AL averages a .242 BAA and a 1.34 WHIP.
2014 tells a nearly identical story:
Bases Empty:
Clay: .236 / 1.24
AL: .246 / 1.29
Runners on:
Clay: .314 / 1.57
AL: .253 / 1.27
RISP
Clay: .352 / 1.95
AL: .243 / 1.33
I mean, we already knew about the "squirrels", but I wonder if this is something "fixable" with his approach, as good as he's been recently. And Clay never followed anything close to this pattern until 2014. Before that, he was pretty consistent across these three situational splits. What changed?
Side Tangent:
I actually have the same numbers for each SP in front of me in a spread sheet, and for the most part, all of the Sox other starting pitchers follow a similar trend, where Miley, Kelly and Porcello are below average with the bases empty, but not horrifically so. But once runners get on base, they become much worse than league average, and with runners in scoring position they're just flat out terrible. Exceptions are Masterson (who is universally terrible) and Rodriguez (who gets worse with runners on, but better if those runners are in scoring position.... maybe holding runners on first is causing him issues, or just too small a sample size?).
Could be a rotation-wide coaching issue with regards to approach with runners on, or pitching from the stretch.
With the bases empty this season, he's well above league average, posting a 1.12 WHIP (1.27 WHIP for the AL with bases empty) and a .236 BAA (.245 AL).
But once runners get on bases, things turn ugly for Clay. With runners on, Clay posts a 1.30 WHIP (1.27 AL) and a .283 BAA (.251 AL).
And it's a flat out horror show if those runners are in scoring position. With RISP, Clay has a .348 BAA and a 1.92 WHIP. In those same situations, the AL averages a .242 BAA and a 1.34 WHIP.
2014 tells a nearly identical story:
Bases Empty:
Clay: .236 / 1.24
AL: .246 / 1.29
Runners on:
Clay: .314 / 1.57
AL: .253 / 1.27
RISP
Clay: .352 / 1.95
AL: .243 / 1.33
I mean, we already knew about the "squirrels", but I wonder if this is something "fixable" with his approach, as good as he's been recently. And Clay never followed anything close to this pattern until 2014. Before that, he was pretty consistent across these three situational splits. What changed?
Side Tangent:
I actually have the same numbers for each SP in front of me in a spread sheet, and for the most part, all of the Sox other starting pitchers follow a similar trend, where Miley, Kelly and Porcello are below average with the bases empty, but not horrifically so. But once runners get on base, they become much worse than league average, and with runners in scoring position they're just flat out terrible. Exceptions are Masterson (who is universally terrible) and Rodriguez (who gets worse with runners on, but better if those runners are in scoring position.... maybe holding runners on first is causing him issues, or just too small a sample size?).
Could be a rotation-wide coaching issue with regards to approach with runners on, or pitching from the stretch.