The Starting Line: Jonathan Sanchez - 8/11/09
The Starting Line
by Evan "the Censor" Dickens
evan@fantasybaseballsearch.com
Jonathan Sanchez v LAD, 8/10/2009
L, 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K
Looking at the Rotowire story log for Jonathan Sanchez shows two amusingly contrasting stories. First, there's the 6/17 story which describes how Bruce Bochy is about to send Sanchez to the bullpen (and rightfully so) for his total lack of effectiveness of his changeup. The other story is Sanchez throwing a fielder-aborted perfect game (thanks for nothing, Juan Uribe) on 7/10. 11 K's and 0 BB's? Who is this kid? And who is the real Jonathan Sanchez?
The real one, unfortunately, is the one characterized by Sanchez's ugly 5-10 record so far in 2009 and even uglier peripherals. The dominance element of great pitching does not elude Sanchez, who has posted a strong 9.5 K/9 this year and great plate control stats--he is in the top 15 among starters in Z-Swing% (pitches in the zone taken) and O-Contact% (pitches outside of the zone swung and missed). Clearly Sanchez can use his slider to kill batters in multiple ways.
But the control element has missed him entirely and it's not getting any better. Sanchez now has run his BB/9 all the way up to 5.03--the worst in the majors. He is throwing only 61% of his pitches for strikes (showing no improvement from last year) and still throwing a full 4.0 pitches per batter faced, which runs up pitch counts rapidly when you put that many batters on base. Despite the aberration of Sanchez's perfect game, he has now walked 13 batters in his last four starts and is also posting a sub-1 GB/FB ratio.
You can't ask for a line better than what Sanchez posted on 7/10--but you also can't expect him to repeat it anytime soon when batters are getting walked at such an alarming rate (I can't stress this enough--5.03 BB/9) and he can't keep the ball down. For now, Jonathan Sanchez is a case of all kinds of talent that is far from refined enough to trust on your fantasy team, unless you have a safe lead in WHIP and need some serious help in strikeouts. He's owned in 48% of Yahoo leagues so there is clearly demand--I would rather be the one trading him than trading for him as the deadline approaches.
~Evan the Censor
by Evan "the Censor" Dickens
evan@fantasybaseballsearch.com
Jonathan Sanchez v LAD, 8/10/2009
L, 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K
Looking at the Rotowire story log for Jonathan Sanchez shows two amusingly contrasting stories. First, there's the 6/17 story which describes how Bruce Bochy is about to send Sanchez to the bullpen (and rightfully so) for his total lack of effectiveness of his changeup. The other story is Sanchez throwing a fielder-aborted perfect game (thanks for nothing, Juan Uribe) on 7/10. 11 K's and 0 BB's? Who is this kid? And who is the real Jonathan Sanchez?
The real one, unfortunately, is the one characterized by Sanchez's ugly 5-10 record so far in 2009 and even uglier peripherals. The dominance element of great pitching does not elude Sanchez, who has posted a strong 9.5 K/9 this year and great plate control stats--he is in the top 15 among starters in Z-Swing% (pitches in the zone taken) and O-Contact% (pitches outside of the zone swung and missed). Clearly Sanchez can use his slider to kill batters in multiple ways.
But the control element has missed him entirely and it's not getting any better. Sanchez now has run his BB/9 all the way up to 5.03--the worst in the majors. He is throwing only 61% of his pitches for strikes (showing no improvement from last year) and still throwing a full 4.0 pitches per batter faced, which runs up pitch counts rapidly when you put that many batters on base. Despite the aberration of Sanchez's perfect game, he has now walked 13 batters in his last four starts and is also posting a sub-1 GB/FB ratio.
You can't ask for a line better than what Sanchez posted on 7/10--but you also can't expect him to repeat it anytime soon when batters are getting walked at such an alarming rate (I can't stress this enough--5.03 BB/9) and he can't keep the ball down. For now, Jonathan Sanchez is a case of all kinds of talent that is far from refined enough to trust on your fantasy team, unless you have a safe lead in WHIP and need some serious help in strikeouts. He's owned in 48% of Yahoo leagues so there is clearly demand--I would rather be the one trading him than trading for him as the deadline approaches.
~Evan the Censor
Labels: Jonathan Sanchez
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