Diamondbacks Starting Pitching Comparables

by Xeifrank on Jan 10, 2012 12:05 PM EST

Here is a look at some of the top comparables to the Diamondbacks top starting pitchers: Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, Trevor Cahill and Josh Collmenter. Sample size was too small on the pitcher that MLB Depth Charts has listed as the Diamondbacks likely (Wade Miley) fifth starter.

In this exercise I used 2010-2011 data, looking at the skilled stats of K/9, BB/9 and GB/FB, while coming up with a similarity score based on these three stats for each Diamondbacks starting pitcher. The cutoff was having pitched at least 150 IP as a starter over the last two years. Here is the top 25 list for each Diamondbacks starter. There is some bias when comparing NL pitchers with AL pitchers due to the slightly inflated strikeout rate for NL pitchers who don't have to pitch to a DH, so feel free to make a mental adjustment for those pitchers. If you wanted to take something like this to the next level, you could look at age, contract status, handedness etc... but I've chosen to look at these three stats which are highly controlled by a pitchers skill level.

Rank	Player	K/9	BB/9	GB/FB	Player	K/9	BB/9	GB/FB
	Ian Kennedy	7.92	2.70	0.91	Daniel Hudson	7.18	2.18	0.98
1	Chris Capuano	7.88	2.61	1.05	Shaun Marcum	7.34	2.27	0.88
2	Matt Garza	7.77	2.80	1.04	Bartolo Colon	7.18	2.18	1.24
3	Homer Bailey	7.69	2.73	1.07	Jordan Zimmermann	7.07	1.92	0.99
4	Colby Lewis	8.19	2.71	0.77	Joe Blanton	6.97	2.15	1.22
5	Josh Beckett	8.17	2.72	1.09	Roy Oswalt	7.34	2.27	1.25
6	Max Scherzer	8.25	2.90	1.02	Matt Cain	7.2	2.51	0.91
7	Jake Peavy	7.59	2.43	0.99	Ricky Nolasco	7.3	1.91	1.22
8	Scott Baker	7.99	2.24	0.80	Hiroki Kuroda	7.23	2.19	1.41
9	James Shields	8.21	2.29	1.18	Gavin Floyd	7.15	2.44	1.36
10	Anibal Sanchez	8.26	3.08	1.21	Jake Peavy	7.59	2.43	0.99
11	Tommy Hanson	8.52	2.76	0.99	Ted Lilly	7.55	2.21	0.64
12	David Price	8.44	2.96	1.16	Alexi Ogando	6.68	2.32	0.92
13	CC Sabathia	8.09	2.56	1.51	Brett Myers	6.93	2.53	1.41
14	Ted Lilly	7.55	2.21	0.64	John Danks	6.97	2.72	1.18
15	Wandy Rodriguez	8.02	3.19	1.39	Chris Carpenter	7.05	2.25	1.59
16	Derek Holland	7.61	3.20	1.30	Philip Humber	6.59	2.16	1.31
17	Shaun Marcum	7.34	2.27	0.88	Homer Bailey	7.69	2.73	1.07
18	Matt Cain	7.2	2.51	0.91	Ervin Santana	6.92	2.89	0.98
19	Javier Vazquez	7.24	2.97	0.74	Johan Santana	6.51	2.49	0.76
20	Madison Bumgarner	7.90	2.05	1.30	Dan Haren	7.76	1.66	1.05
21	Jered Weaver	8.43	2.15	0.71	Travis Wood	6.85	2.83	0.68
22	Jonathon Niese	7.78	2.89	1.65	Madison Bumgarner	7.9	2.05	1.30
23	Roy Oswalt	7.34	2.27	1.25	Jeff Niemann	6.79	2.86	1.21
24	Daniel Hudson	7.18	2.18	0.98	Chris Capuano	7.88	2.61	1.05
25	Chris Narveson	7.25	3.30	1.05	Javier Vazquez	7.24	2.97	0.74

Rank	Player	K/9	BB/9	GB/FB	Player	K/9	BB/9	GB/FB
	Trevor Cahill	5.90	3.23	2.07	Josh Collmenter	5.83	1.63	0.71
1	Zach Britton	5.66	3.62	1.86	Dallas Braden	5.47	2.05	0.99
2	Ivan Nova	5.45	3.17	1.82	Kevin Slowey	6.48	1.51	0.56
3	Jake Westbrook	5.41	3.29	2.35	Doug Fister	5.55	1.62	1.43
4	Chris Volstad	5.79	2.88	1.62	Jeff Karstens	5.19	1.82	1.22
5	Charlie Morton	6.05	3.69	2.43	Josh Tomlin	4.98	1.51	0.82
6	Luke Hochevar	6.07	2.96	1.51	Jason Vargas	5.65	2.58	0.80
7	Kevin Correia	5.77	3.10	1.41	Jeremy Guthrie	5.34	2.48	0.99
8	Matt Harrison	6.00	2.94	1.44	Brandon McCarthy	6.49	1.32	1.45
9	Fausto Carmona	5.26	2.98	1.92	Kyle Lohse	5.3	2.47	1.13
10	Tim Stauffer	6.04	2.56	1.89	Johan Santana	6.51	2.49	0.76
11	Clayton Richard	6.15	3.46	1.42	Bronson Arroyo	4.97	2.26	0.99
12	Clay Buchholz	6.32	3.44	1.5	Philip Humber	6.59	2.16	1.31
13	Jason Hammel	6.05	2.99	1.36	Alexi Ogando	6.68	2.32	0.92
14	Derek Lowe	6.45	3.10	2.61	Freddy Garcia	5.47	2.65	0.98
15	Tim Hudson	6.02	2.64	2.57	Kevin Millwood	6.17	2.68	0.96
16	Jon Garland	5.81	3.79	1.50	Rodrigo Lopez	5.13	2.50	0.97
17	Justin Masterson	6.72	3.21	2.25	Jeff Francis	4.95	1.96	1.38
18	Jason Marquis	5.05	3.16	2.10	Brian Duensing	6.06	2.57	1.34
19	Randy Wells	6.17	3.00	1.28	Tim Wakefield	5.49	2.75	0.82
20	Paul Maholm	5.15	2.9	1.72	Mike Leake	6.06	2.48	1.52
21	Carlos Carrasco	6.54	2.87	1.56	R.A. Dickey	5.57	2.24	1.74
22	Jeremy Bonderman	5.88	3.18	1.14	Tommy Hunter	4.69	1.98	1.01
23	Mike Leake	6.06	2.48	1.52	Jair Jurrjens	5.9	2.88	1.06
24	Brian Duensing	6.06	2.57	1.34	Jordan Zimmermann	7.07	1.92	0.99
25	Johnny Cueto	6.37	2.71	1.35	Livan Hernandez	4.95	2.56	1.07

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Comments

It's pretty funny

How absurdly different some of the names that pop up are. Hudson and Marcum? Kennedy and Garza? The Collmenter and Cahill ones are much more reasonable, but the IPK and Huddy comps are amusing, to say the least.

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by Dan Strittmatter on Jan 10, 2012 5:35 PM EST reply actions