#starting-pitching

#starting-pitching

In 2017, starters averaged five and a half innings per start. Now, there's no such thing as half an inning, but that's the beauty of math. That number dipped slightly in 2018, to 5.4 innings per start. Even ignoring 2020, where teams felt more comfortable and/or harried into just getting through the 60-game season, the innings-per-start value bottomed out at exactly five in 2021.

It's a relatively thin group after MLB's best pitcher. Olson missed most of the second half with a shoulder injury. Mize had an All-Star first half but was up-and-down later in the season. While Flaherty's strikeout and walk profile remained strong, he's coming off his second upper-4.00s ERA in three seasons. Anderson has started two MLB games and hasn't pitched in the majors in five years. Melton has mid-rotation upside but worked mostly out of the bullpen as a rookie.

Some concepts are hits. Some are flops. The experiment to watch this year is almost spiritual in nature: Can professional baseball make starting pitching great again? Baseball's obsession with velocity has dampened the soul of the sport. The marquee pitching matchup is an endangered species. The oohs and aahs over a 100-mph pitch have been replaced by yawns. The potential solution, or at least a piece of one, is evident in this job description:

The Yankees were known to be one of the teams talking with the Marlins about a possible Edward Cabrera trade, but with Cabrera now in a Cubs uniform, the New York Post's Joel Sherman reports that the Bronx Bombers are looking elsewhere for rotation help. The NY Post's Jon Heyman reiterates that the Yankees continue to have trade interest in the Brewers' Freddy Peralta and the Nationals' MacKenzie Gore,

According to FanGraphs' starting pitcher depth chart rankings, the Cardinals have the second-worst rotation in baseball, ahead of only the lowly Colorado Rockies (who just got a boost with Michael Lorenzen). Currently, their starting five consists of Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante, Dustin May, Michael McGreevy, and Kyle Leahy. All of those pitchers had an ERA of four-plus last season, and none averaged a strikeout per inning.