 |  |
| Wellemeyer | Miller |
| 4.36 FIP | 3.71 FIP |
13 runs in 1 game? That's unheard of. It's like a month's worth of offense. I have no idea what we do for an encore!
3 hits out of Ankiel last night. In fact, he was just a single away from the cycle. It seems as though he's making better contact. Is he showing a better approach at the plate? Nope. He saw just 12 pitches in his 5 PAs last night. I'm going to need to see more from him before I get too excited about 1 good game. Even after accumulating 9 total bases last night, his June OPS is just .748.
Neither Rasmus nor Ludwick have walked this month. Not once. However, Rasmus' wOBA this month is .541 and his OPS is 1.269 despite not reaching base via a walk yet. He's really pounding the ball, as the pitcher who gave up his 8th inning single last night no doubt noted. It was a line drive up the middle that might have killed the pitcher had it been less well-placed.
Chris Duncan's June OPS is a robust .397 and he's striking out 29.2% of the time.
According to fangraphs, Wellemeyer has been hurt most this year on his changeup. He's 8.4 runs below average this year on his changeup, which he's thrown 14.1% of the time, a higher percentage than in any season since 2006. This seems to correspond w/ his weakness against lefties. They've pounded him this year and he's more likely to throw the changeup against lefties. Is it the changeup that's hurt him or the fact that he's faced so many lefties? It's probably a combination of the 2. Fortunately, the Marlins' offense isn't exactly loaded w/ lefthanded strength.
Wellemeyer's mound opponent is exactly what I like from the Cards' draft this year. Andrew Miller was a high upside pick by the Tigers. In fact, he was the #1 pick in the draft -- that year's version of Stephen Strasberg or David Price. I like the Shelby Miller pick b/c he is a high-ceiling guy. The Cards haven't chosen too many of those in recent years, at least not in early rounds but everyone who's been hard on the Cards for choosing Kozma over Porcello 2 years ago should love this pick. Is he Josh Beckett or is he Mark McCormick? It's too soon to tell, of course, but I like that we chose a guy who could, if things fall into place, be a #1 starter in the big leagues. It was about time the Cards made a selection like that. We certainly have the depth in our system to be able to withstand him flaming out and, while we have some minor league pitching talent, none of it projects to the front end of the rotation. We have a bunch of guys who might turn in to #4 starters and we've got to have someone who can step onto that top rung of the ladder someday. Maybe Shelby Miller can do that 4-5 years from now.