Then what explains the wildly low ERA the third time through?
Add the second and third together and it’s not all that bad.
Also, look at IR allowed to score and OPS against numbers.
Here is an interesting look at weak hitting in 2021:
Out of 429 batters with 80+ PAs, this year...
183 have a .700 or lower OPS (43%)
120 have a .650 or lower OPS (28%)
65 have a .600 or lower OPS (15%)
31 are below .550 (7%)
Here are the numbers for 2019:
436 batters with 120+ PAs
132 below .700 (30%)
73 below .650 (17%)
30 below .600 (7%)
17 below .550 (4%)
None.
2020
1.098 in 6 slot
.907 in 7 slot
.805 in 1 slot
Career
.960 in 7 slot (2nd most career PAs)
.849 in 9
.763 in 5
.760 in 1
.751 in 6
.750 in 2 (most career PAs in 2 slot)
.750 in 8
I'm super psyched he's back with the big club, but you know, Pivetta has "excellent stuff," too.
I'm not saying that to comp him to Pivetta but to just throw some caution to the discussion.
What puzzles me about Houck, and I'm not saying I'm not high on him, is how he never really impressed through the minors, and his ML sample size is rather small.
ERod has to do better than 99 pitches in 5 innings. That was the "old ERod" we thought had gotten past that, but I'll take it.
Sale, Eovaldi, ERod, Houck and one of the struggling 3 to step it up, and we're back in business.