Welcome to Behind the Plate With DJ, a weekly look at what is going on in the world of baseball. This series will weigh in on the interesting, the controversial, and the downright cool. The play of the week could be an incredible play or an unusual one. If something made you scratch your head, you will probably find it here. So sit back, relax, and let’s take a look at the week that was.
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs look like the real deal. They started the season as the favorite to win the World Series and they have not done anything to cause anybody to change that. They are in first place in the NL Central with a 14-5 record, including a 7-2 record against divisional opponents.
The Cubs have been doing this with hitting and pitching. The Cubs lead the Major Leagues in runs scored and are near the top in home runs. They also have the most quality starts and are second in the National League in ERA. They are even playing great defense, ranking fourth in the National League in fielding percentage.
Dexter Fowler is second in the National League with a .385 average and is tied for first with 17 runs scored. Anthony Rizzo is tied for second with 8 home runs and second with 21 RBI. In all, the Cubs have five players with 10 or more runs scored and five that have 10 or more RBI.
The Cubs have three pitchers with an ERA in the top 10 in the National League, Jason Hammel at 2 with 0.75, Jake Arrieta at 3 with 0.87, and Jon Lester at 8 with 1.98. John Lackey (9th, 27 strikeouts) and Arrieta (10th, 26 strikeouts) are in the top 10 in strikeouts as well. The Cubs top four pitchers are a combined 12-2 with a 2.09 ERA.
With the combination of hitting and pitching, the Cubs are giving their fans reason to think that this is their year, the year they get back to the World Series for the first time since 1945, the year they win the World Series for the first time since 1908. Based on early results, Cub fans may be right.
King Felix Becomes Mariner’s Strikeout King
Felix Hernandez became the Mariners all-time strikeout leader, passing Randy Johnson. He came into the game on Saturday in a tie with Johnson, and he got Nori Aoki to strike out swinging to lead off the game. He ended up with four strikeouts on the day and now has 2,166 strikeouts in his 12-year career, all with the Mariners.
Hernandez is currently 59th all-time in career strikeouts. Only two other active pitchers are ahead of him; CC Sabathia is 25th with 2,584 and Bartolo Colon is 51st with 2,254.
Advanced Stat of the Week
Every week, Behind the Plate will look at an advanced stat that is being used in baseball. These stats give a better idea on what value a player gives a team. This week’s stat is FIP.
FIP stands for Fielding Independent Pitching. It is used to take the pitcher’s team’s fielding out of the picture. It is comparable to ERA, which is how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per nine innings.
The problem with ERA is that a pitcher who has a better defense behind him will have a better ERA than one who has a poor defense. FIP was developed in order to compare pitchers on different teams.
The mathematical formula is (13HR + 3(BB+HBP) – 2*SO)/IP + constant. This measures everything that a defense cannot affect, such as home runs, walks, and strikeouts. The constant is used to make the average FIP equal the average ERA.
Let’s take a look at two pitchers from last season, Zack Greinke of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox. Greinke led the Major Leagues with a 1.66 ERA whereas Sale finished 27th with a 3.41 ERA. Now, Greinke was helped by a Dodger team that finished first in fielding percentage and Sale may have been hurt by a White Sox team that finished 24th.
If we look at their FIP, Greinke finished sixth with 2.76. Sale, though, finished fifth with a 2.73. It appears that Sale pitched at least as well, if not a little bit better than Greinke, but his defense was not able to help him out as much as the Dodger defense helped Greinke.
FIP is just one more tool that can be used to compare players on different teams.
Play of the Week
Ellsbury Steals Home, Again
Jacoby Ellsbury of the New York Yankees stole home against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
That was almost exactly seven years after he performed the same feat against the Yankees while a member of the Boston Red Sox.
The White Sox turned the first ever 9-3-2-6-2-5 triple play.
Also on Friday, the Chicago White Sox turned the first ever 9-3-2-6-2-5 triple play. For those who are not used to scoring along at home, that is right fielder to first baseman to catcher to shortstop to catcher to third baseman for a triple play. See for yourself:
