Felix is the King--By Jack Moore - 美國職棒

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/felix-is-king/

這篇很簡單，就不翻啦
不管今年C.Y是誰，我們家小鬼才是我們心目中美聯最佳投手
Sky is the limit，他的面前唯一的敵人，只有健康而已

Sunday afternoon was simply another outing for Felix Hernandez. King Felix
threw eight shutout innings against the Cleveland Indians, striking out nine,
walking none, and only allowing four hits. The big game was nothing new for
Hernandez this season, whose 2.38 ERA trails only Clay Buchholz among
American League pitchers and whose 2.95 FIP trails only Francisco Liriano and
Cliff Lee in that same group.

Given how remarkable Hernandez’s stuff is, it should be no surprise that he
is among the best pitchers in the world. All of his pitches were at top form
on Sunday, as we can see thanks to the Pitch F/X data from Brooks Baseball.
His fastball sat between 92 and 96 and drew three swinging strikes in 40
pitches. Hernandez showed fantastic control of that pitch, as it was a strike
28 times overall – over 70% of the time. Batters clearly weren’t making
good contact on his fastball either, as the pitch type linear weights value
for the pitch was a whopping -2.2 runs for the game.

His other fastball, classified as a sinker by Pitch F/X but still in the
92-96 range, was similarly impressive, drawing five whiffs and notching 28
strikes in 43 pitches. Hernandez only had to go to his off-speed stuff 28
times, including a 90 MPH changeup which hardly classifies as off-speed. That
changeup was only used seven times but proved deadly, as it drew four whiffs
– an unfathomable 57.4% whiff rate. The slider, which averaged 85 MPH, wasn’
t quite as impressive in terms of contact – three whiffs in 18 pitches –
but Hernandez’s control of the pitch was excellent, as it went for a strike
13 times.

This start only adds to Hernandez’s fantastic 2010 line. Now, on the season,
Hernandez has thrown 219.1 innings, striking out 209, walking only 60 and
allowing 14 home runs. That comes out to rates of 8.58 K/9, 2.46 BB/9, and
0.57 HR/9 – numbers which finally equal the numbers that Hernandez put up as
a 20 year old phenom with a blazing fastball out of the minor leagues. In
2005, that excellent rookie year, Hernandez posted a 2.67 ERA and a still
career best 2.85 FIP in his first 12 major league starts. Hernandez’s FIP
currently sits at 2.95, in a much larger sample. People expected great things
out of him after that season, and although Hernandez has been nothing short
of fantastic, this is the first time since that he has truly regained that
level of greatness. It’s safe to say that Felix Hernandez has assumed the
throne that many believed he would after such an impressive debut stint in
the Major Leagues.

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