Tag Archives: Jharel Cotton

May 4, 2017

Game of the Day

The best pitching match-up of this abbreviated schedule takes place in Kansas City as Derek Holland and the White Sox face Ian Kennedy. Holland’s low ERA is due to his good pitching with men on base. He limited opponents to a .140/.210/.281 slash line in that situation, and only four of his 12 extra-base hits against came with men on base. Kennedy is having a good year for a poor team. He walked 14 batters in 31 1/3 innings, but with 28 K he allowed just 17 hits.

The slugfest of the day most likely takes place in Minnesota where Jharel Cotton lead the Athletics against Kyle Gibson. Cotton brings a 5.00 ERA into the game as he allowed a .351 BA with runners in scoring position, 13 for 37 with five doubles. Gibson’s 8.06 ERA makes Cotton look good. Gibson allowed six home runs in 22 1/3 innings, along with 10 walks. Three of those home runs came with men on base, and he is allowing a .409 BA, 9/22, with runners in scoring position.

Enjoy!

April 5, 2017

Games of the Day

The Blue Jays continue their series with the Orioles as J.A. Happ faces Dylan Bundy. Happ posted his best seasons since 2009, and winning 20 games and pitching over 190 innings for the first time. Happ’s three true outcomes were not that different from his career averages, but the defense behind him was very good. His FIP was 3.96, his ERA 3.18. Bundy plays 2017 as a 24-year-old. His strikeout rate is good, but he needs to cut down on both walks and strikeouts to move to the next level.

The Pirates send Jameson Taillon to the mound as Chris Sale makes his Red Sox debut at Fenway Park. Taillon pitched a fine rookie season in 2016, striking out 85 while walking just 17 in 104 innings. Sale posted a similar K/BB, striking out 233 and walking 45 in 226 2/3 innings. In fact, since the start of 2013, Sale’s K/BB stands at 5.47.

Bartolo Colon returns to Citi Field as a Braves pitcher, facing his former teammate Jacob deGrom. This is Colon’s 20th anniversary season, as he came up with Cleveland in 1997. His strength as a veteran is his low walk rate, just 1.2 BB per 9 IP since the start of 2013. The young deGrom is the master of the K, with 492 K in 479 1/3 innings during the first three years of his career. He owns a 1.90 ERA against the Braves, with three hard luck losses.

Finally, Garrett Richards and the Angels take on Jharel Cotton and the Athletics. Richards worked his way back from a partially torn elbow ligament without surgery. He makes his first regular season start since last May. Cotton pitched briefly but well in 2016, up to the majors for the first time. He walked four and struck out 23 in 29 1/3 innings, good for a 2.15 ERA.

Enjoy!

August 1, 2016

Another Arm for the Dodgers to Break

The Dodgers acquired Rich Hill and Josh Reddick from the Oakland Athletics for three pitchers:

The Dodgers acquired starting pitcher Rich Hill and outfielder Josh Reddick from Oakland on Monday for a package of young pitchers Grant Holmes, Frankie Montas and Jharel Cotton, ranked fifth, eighth and 13th in the Dodgers’ system by MLBPipeline.com, according to a baseball source.

At seasonal age 36, Hill is having a great season, posting a 2.25 ERA in 76 innings with a very high strikeout rate. Reddick is getting on base way above his career .317 average. The Athletics were certainly selling high here. The three pitchers they received all strike out batters at a high rate and are pretty good at preventing home runs. Each might walk a few too many batters. All in all, Oakland did a good job of restocking their young pitching talent by trading two overachieving players.