Interesting Splits: Yankee Starting Pitchers

With the announcement coming down just last night that Fangraphs has added splits to their stat pages, I thought it would be fun to look at interesting 2009 splits for each likely member of the 2010 Yankees. I looked at hitters this morning, and will now address starting pitchers, with relievers to follow at some point tomorrow. I will likely expand on some of these over the next few weeks. Remember, when you do splits, you are essentially splitting the sample, such that small sample size caveats apply.

CC Sabathia

FIP v. L: 2.43

FIP v. R: 3.69

CC against righties is a very good pitcher, but likely not a Cy Young candidate. His dominance against lefties is what makes him such a dangerous weapon. Much of the difference in performance comes from his significantly better K-rate against left handed batters (9.94 v. 7.02). I think it is interesting to note that CC would be a well above average pitcher even if he only faced righties.

AJ Burnett

Bases Empty:  WHIP 1.63, BABIP .348, FIP 4.62

Men On Base: WHIP 1.16, BABIP .250, FIP 4.03

AJ was significantly better once runners were on than he was with the bases empty, apparently buckling down once he got into trouble. However, as the BABIP suggests, he was quite unlucky with the bases empty and was very lucky once men reached. If both issues correct themselves, he should be slightly worse with runners on but will face fewer such situations due to an improvement with the bases empty.

Andy Pettitte

Home FIP: 4.67

Road FIP: 3.59

Pettitte had some major problems pitching in the new stadium, a fact that is reflected in his results. This is despite the fact that as a left-hander, he should have the tools to partially neutralize the effects of the ballpark. He gave up more line drives and more flyballs on the road, but significantly more of the fly balls allowed at home left the park (13.2% v. 5.1%).

Javier Vazquez

Bases Empty:  1.61 K/BB, .67 HR/9, 1.06 WHIP, 2.40 FIP

Men on Base: 2.12 K/BB, 1.06 HR/9, .98 WHIP, 3.34 FIP

As we have discussed at numerous points this offseason, Vazquez has, for much of his career, had difficulty pitching from the stretch. It is fascinating to note that his 2009 WHIP was lower with men on. However, is control seemed to get worse in those situations, and he gives up a lot more homers in those spots. Basically, Vazquez gives up his biggest blows with runners on base, which is why his ERA is usually worse than his FIP.

Joba Chamberlain

BABIP by Month (LD% in parenthesis)

Apr. .295 (23.9)

May .371 (25.5)

June .290 (15.5)

July .269 (23.6)

Aug. .374 (23.1)

Sep. .348 (19.3)

Rob at BBD did a study on Chamberlain’s velocity today, and found that his terrible August and September numbers could not be attributed to a loss in velocity. One possible explanation is what you see above. Joba’s BABIP in those two months was sky high, and could not be entirely explained by his LD%. It is possible that Joba was simply unlucky down the stretch.

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