Welcome to the SP Roundup on April 1st, the night where Justin Paradis takes over and Nick Pollack handles the graphics. This is totally not a one-night thing. Absolutely not. Fine. Here’s the actual SP Roundup for today.
Kyle Freeland (COL) @ SD (W) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks – 2 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 74 pitches.
Let’s just take a moment to celebrate the only possible day that Kyle Freeland could be considered the best pitcher on the slate. He did it. Despite all odds, despite one strikeout (HAISTBMBWT?), despite San Diego, he did it with 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks – 2 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 74 pitches against the Padres. I guess, I should have given more credit to the Team USA WBC Ace.
Let’s see how every other SP did Friday:
Jesús Luzardo (MIA) vs NYM (W) – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 31% CSW, 91 pitches.
I WAS PROMISED 100 MPH BY A HOT RADAR GUN IN ARIZONA! Ok, so we didn’t quite get to triple digits but will have to settle with 99.3 mph. The Marlins are apparently now sponsored by ADT. We know that because they have a giant arm patch that doesn’t match the rest of the uniform. ADT’s slogan is, “More Than Just a Line in the Sand.” Apparently, Luzardo didn’t realize his line in the sand was the 6th inning where he got tired, let a bunch of people on base, and missed a quality start.
Dustin May (LAD) vs ARI (ND) – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 84 pitches.
It’s true that the perceived velocity of a pitcher with a giant red hair bush protruding from a hat is +3 mph.
Merrill Kelly (ARI) @ LAD (ND) – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 22% CSW, 74 pitches.
Are we sure that his name isn’t Kelly Merrill and he just filled out the MLB player application backward? I don’t believe Merrill is a first name. Also, the Dodgers can’t believe they didn’t score any runs off of Mr. Merrill.
David Peterson (NYM) @ MIA (L) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 84 pitches.
Peterson means fortunate line score in baseball-ese.
Lance Lynn (CWS) @ HOU (ND) – 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks – 17 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 96 pitches.
Ace Potential is Almost Gonna Ace. The most memorable part of Lynn’s performance tonight was a hot mic catching him screaming “WOOO, FUN, COOL!” after striking out Jeremy Peña. It’s official, everyone is happy baseball is back.
Cristian Javier (HOU) vs CWS (ND) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 19 Whiffs, 37% CSW, 82 pitches.
Aces Gonna Ace, fortunately. Distracted by those pesky base stealers all night (Seriously, we might just need to grant Tim Anderson second base automatically after a walk), Javier still came away with a Golden Goal. Though, given the other starters tonight, feels like it should be the Silver Goal.
Robbie Ray (SEA) vs CLE (ND) – 3.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 5 BBs, 3 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 19% CSW, 91 pitches.
Pants were too tight, control was too loose.
Hunter Gaddis (CLE) @ SEA (ND) – 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 70 pitches.
Hunter Gaddis, while not pitching long enough to qualify for the win in this game, did qualify for the title of best facial hair, pitching category.
Nick Martinez (SD) vs COL (L) – 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 101 pitches.
Ambushed in the first inning by a Colorado team that forgot they were on the road, Nick Martinez worked his way through seven innings. A 32% CSW means that you can stay aboard the Nick Martinez bandwagon for a little while longer.
Game of the Day
Madison Bumgarner vs. Clayton Kershaw – It’s turn back the clock night in Los Angeles! The first 1,000 people in attendance will celebrate the biggest fad of 2011 by getting a planking Clayton Kershaw bobblehead.
But Justin?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.
Have Questions? – Too bad! Nick does the Twitch streams and I don’t.
Featured image by Nick Pollack (@PitcherList on Twitter)
Happy April Fools everyone! The normal edition of the SP Roundup will be out tomorrow morning per usual. Make sure to give Justin a ton of love on Twitter for this fantastic write-up!
Did Ray’s velo seem down? Not sure what reports in spring training were saying but would love to hear your input on how the fastball was tonight. Loosely following the game cast it was easy to see the fastball wasn’t getting him ahead in counts. Feels like that sets everything else up later in counts.
His fastball started 93 to 94 and towards the end of the night he seemed to be half-assing 91-92 tosses over the plate just praying for an out. It was also a cold night (mid 40s i think).
Well done Justin! I chuckled at your insights and got the gist of things.