by Drungo Hazewood
113 National League pitchers have made five or more starts this year.
Kevin Gausman is 107th in K/9, at 5.8. He has a 3.88 FIP, and a 4.38 xFIP. His walk rate is higher than it was in Baltimore. And his BABIP is 58 points lower than his career mark.
All of that points to an nice little 8-start run where he’s seen a lot of balls hit at his fielders and that’s making up for a disconcertingly low strikeout rate.
According to Fangraphs he threw 22% splitters with the O’s, 19% with the Braves.
How does getting more runs make up for the fact you allow a #3-4 starter level of runs (4.14) per game?
But if you want to dabble in the dark arts and assume the ghost of Leo Mazzone has enabled some pitching to contact wizardry that’s fine, too.
