How’s this for identical pitching lines (except for the walks)?
| Pitcher | W | L | PCT | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 13 | 8 | .619 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 174.2 | 166 | 76 | 73 | 22 | 75 | 122 | 3.76 |
| B | 12 | 9 | .571 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 180.1 | 174 | 79 | 76 | 23 | 36 | 142 | 3.79 |
A is Barry Zito, and B is his teammate Dan Haren. Zito is defying the usual rule that K/BB/HR rates are the biggest determinant of ERA, but then there’s some reason to believe that his big sweeping curveball may make him more effective on balls in play. The bigger lesson here is that Haren is really on the verge of something big if he can ever cut his HR rate a little.
The whole “pitchers have no effect on BABIP” argument needs to be discarded. This is yet another example of statheads deciding that since some metric is partially driven by luck, it’s really ALL luck-like pitchers’ W-L records, batter’s RBI, etc. Whether a ball put in play is a hit is affected by the pitcher, the defense, the park, and luck-like everything else in baseball.