Rubby De La Rosa hit 99 MPH on his return to the mound 18 months after a second Tommy John surgery. Note that in 2017 his fastball averaged 97 MPH. That’s a pretty impressive second surgery.
Rubby Returns
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Tag Archives: Rubby de la Rosa
Random Player Report
The Random Evil Player program selected Rubby De La Rosa for the next review. De La Rosa is a starting pitcher who spent his last three seasons with the Diamondbacks. He blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery in 2017. The Diamondbacks released him and then signed him to a two-year minor league contract, the first year of which he will spend time on rehabilitation. He owns a career record of 26-30 with a 4.49 ERA.
De La Rosa does not have a single strong element of the three-true outcomes. His strikeout rate of 7.6 batters per nine innings is okay, but in today’s game it’s a big low. His walk rate of 3.4 batters per nine innings is not terrible, but won’t draw any attention. His home run rate of 1.32 HR per 9 IP is simply high.
One thing he does do well is induce ground balls, 48% for his career. It’s the big reason for the disconnect between his FIP (4.55) and his xFIP (4.01). The ground balls help him, and indicate he should pitch better than his ERA. That may be the reason the Diamondbacks are willing to wait a year for his return.
Games of the Day
Danny Salazar leads the Indians against the Pirates and Gerrit Cole as the teams play the rubber game of their series. Salazar’s strength is a career K/BB of close to 4.0, but he pays for his power and control with a high home run rate. The Pirates are near the bottom of the National League in home runs hit, however. Cole, so far in his career, is someone who combines pitching well with winning. He is 32-15 in 57 career starts. This season, with a 2.20 ERA and great three-true outcome numbers, he’s 11-3.
It’s a Cole day in baseball as Cole Hamels face the Braves and Shelby Miller. You never know when Hamels might make his last start for the Phillies. Thanks to his high strikeout rate, opponents are hitting just .219 against him, and that should be attractive to other teams. Miller, owns the same 2.20 ERA as Gerrit Cole, but is just 5-4 in wins and losses.
The Mariners and Athletics trot out two more good pitchers as rookie Mike Montgomery takes on second year rookie Chris Bassitt, Montgomery doesn’t strike out many batters, but he allowed just one home run and 12 walks in 44 1/3 innings. Bassitt hounds hitters with a 93 MPH fastball and an 81 MPH change up.
Finally, it an all De La Rosa game as Jorge De La Rosa and the Rockies face Rubby De La Rosa and the Diamondbacks. The two own near identical ERAs, Jorge at 4.59, Rubby at 4.60. Jorge walks too many, while Rubby gives up too many home runs. This is the second time the De La Rosa’s met in a game. Their last meeting was a bit over a week ago when both pitched well but neither received the decision.
Enjoy!
Games of the Day
Two youngster pitching well battle in Toronto as Rubby De La Rosa leads the Red Sox against the Blue Jays and Marcus Stroman.
Veterans Tim Hudson and Cole Hamels both bring ERAs under 3.00 into the finale between the Giants and the Phillies.
Miami tries to take three of four from the Braves in Atlanta as Henderson Alvarez takes on Aaron Harang.
A big AL Central battle pits Corey Kluber of the Indians against Danny Duffy of the Royals.
The Mets just put a dent in the Mariners playoff lead, and now hope to do the same to the Brewers as Dillon Gee faces Matt Garza.
Two of the best teams in the AL battle as the Tigers send Max Scherzer against the Angels and Garrett Richards.
Enjoy!
Games of the Day
The afternoon gets off to a bang with Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer battling in Detroit. They have to hope the Tuesday night slugfest took something out of the hitters as the Dodgers and Tigers have a quick turnaround.
Doug Fister and Bud Norris try again in Baltimore after the game in Washington was rained out. They’ll make up the Tuesday postponement August 4th.
Brandon McCarthy makes his Yankees debut against the Indians and Josh Tomlin.
Chris Sale continues his quest to be the Clayton Kershaw of the AL and gain in the Cy Young race after a late start to his season. The Sox will win as the White face the Red and Rubby De La Rosa. De La Rosa is blowing away batters so far with 30 K in 32 1/3 innings and only 25 hits allowed.
Dallas Beeler suffered the luck of the Cubs as he allowed one unearned run in his first major league start but lost. He takes on another of the fine Reds pitchers, Alfredo Simon. A win by Simon today will give him nearly a quarter of the Reds victories.
The battle of Texas continues with Dallas Keuchel of the Astros taking on Yu Darvish of the Rangers. Darvish was hit on the head by a batting practice ball, so we’ll see if that hurts his performance today.
This has been quite a year, with two pitcher named Yohan starting on the same day, and now two pitchers named Dallas!
Finally, Jason Hammel makes his debut for Oakland across the bay as the Athletics face Matt Cain and the Giants. Oakland won the first two games by a combined score of 11-1.
Enjoy!
Rubby’s Elbow
Dodgers pitcher Rubby de la Rosa needs Tommy John surgery. He pitched decently for Los Angeles in his rookie year with a strong strikeout rate to counter a high walk rate. At 22 years old, he has plenty of time to recover and still have a good career.
Games of the Day
Second place teams Seattle and Detroit try to gain in their divisions as they send Felix Hernandez and Rick Porcello to the mound. Felix pitched well in day games this season, posting a 2.33 ERA in four starts, striking out 35 in 27 innings with no home runs allowed. Seattle hasn’t supported him, however, as he’s 1-2 in those contests. Porcello pitched poorly at home this season, with a 6.23 ERA in four starts, walking 10 and striking out 11 in 21 2/3 innings. With good support, however, he’s 2-2.
The Marlins try to give Brad Hand more support as they host the Diamondbacks and Daniel Hudson. The Arizona starter is doing a great job of limiting home runs and walks with four long balls and 20 free passes issued in 86 innings. Hand allowed just one hit in his major league debut, a home run that caused him to lose 1-0. I hope his quest for victory does not prove to be a mission impossible.
The Brewers can take over first place in the NL Central as the Cardinals send Jake Westbrook against Shaun Marcum. Jake is 6-3 despite a 5.01 ERA. His low strikeout rate is leading to a ton of hits, and opponents are batting .364 against him with runners in scoring position. Marcum gives up a decent number of home runs, but his low walk rate and high K rate keep them from doing too much damage. He is vulnerable at home, with a 4.01 ERA at Miller Park this season.
Finally, in one of the best name match-ups, Rubby De La Rosa face Ubaldo Jimenez as the Dodgers take on the Rockies. Rubby’s wildness has yet to hurt him. Despite six walks in 10 innings, he’s only allowed two runs. Ubaldo cured his wildness, not walking a batter in his last two starts.
Enjoy!
The Rubby Dee Show
I stole the title from Dodger Thoughts. So far, the two Dodgers rookies are putting on quite a show. Dee Gordon is three for three, all singles, in his first three major league at bats. Rubby De La Rosa is through five innings with just one run allowed. He has walked five, however, while striking out four. Los Angeles leads Philadelphia 4-1.
Games of the Day
In a perfect world, Rubby De La Rosa and Brad Hand would be making their first major league starts against each other. Unfortunately, the Dodgers and Marlins don’t meet again this season, so we won’t see this match-up any time soon. We do have Guillermo Moscoso against Chris Jakubauskas, trying to set the record for last names with high concentrations of vowels, none of which are e or i.
On a more serious note, the Yankees host the Red Sox with Jon Lester facing Freddy Garcia. Boston trails New York by one game in the AL East, thanks in part to a 5-1 record this season against the Yankees. The are 28-25 against everyone else. Lester pitches on long rest after a streak of poor outings. His biggest problem was control walking 16 in 29 innings, but he also gave up five home runs. One might have caused the other. Garcia’s strikeout rate is back to his career average of 6.5 per nine this season, and his rate of allowing hits dropped with that rise.
The Braves and Marlins each sit four games behind the Phillies as the battle for second place in the NL East commences in Miami. Tommy Hanson takes on the aforementioned Brad Hand. Hanson’s ERA returned to his rookie year levels, as his strikeouts are back up above eight per nine innings. He’s holding opponents to a .121 BA with runners in scoring position, 7 for 58 with 23 K. Hand will be the fourth youngest player in the majors this year, four days younger than Starlin Castro. He struck out a ton of batters in the minor leagues, but was a bit wild. Of course, Hand is tough to get.
Felix Hernandez and Phil Humber own nearly identical ERAs as the Mariners and White Sox continue their series in Chicago. Hernandez gets there though a high strikeout rate that delivers a .223 opposition batting average. Humber possesses the King’s excellent control, but strikes out many fewer batters. Humber’s opposition BA sits at .206, however. I suspect that will rise as the year goes on.
Enjoy!