Chad Billingsley is the best young pitcher...

by npurcell on Jul 13, 2008 9:00 PM EDT Comment 15 comments

That no one ever talks about. I remember 3 years ago when we were having that Billingsley/Cain/Verlander debate, a lot of people were skeptical of Billingsley for one reason or another.

Matt Cain ERA+

2006: 108

2007: 122

2008: 105

Justin Verlander ERA+

2006: 126

2007: 125

2008: 98

Chad Billingsley ERA+

2006: 118

2007: 138

2008: 134 (after today's start if lgERA remains constant)

Chad is also first in the majors among starting pitchers in K/9IP at 9.90. He turned 24 at the end of the month. How come he isn't talked about more? For example, Baseball Tonight before the Mets game didn't even do a recap of the Dodgers game with Billingsley striking out 13!!

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No one talks about him?

Really? Are you sure no one talks about him? Because that wasn’t my impression…

http://www.chop-n-change.com

by alexwithclass on Jul 13, 2008 9:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

personally

I never heard any national media talk about him. All I read is Joba Joba Joba, Lincecum Lincecum Linceum, with a little some others throw in.

Whenever people talk about the best young starters in the game, Billingsley never seems to be in the conversation.

by npurcell on Jul 13, 2008 10:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Speaking of the game tonight

I’m all the sudden a Pelfrey believer. He’s obviously been good lately but I haven’t watched him since the transition – wow. 94-95 consistently. Great location. Throwing the slider enough to keep them honest. I know the Rocks aren’t very good at hitting away from Coor’s but Pel looks legit…

by Dfarth on Jul 13, 2008 10:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Love Billz

I am a huge fan of Billz and look forward to watching him for years to come. He reminds me Ben Sheets with better mechanics.

"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift

by King Billy Royal on Jul 13, 2008 10:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not to be picky

But Rich Harden is leading the league if I’m not mistaken in K/9IP. Still doesn’t take away from what Bills has acomplished.

by AthleticsReign on Jul 13, 2008 11:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

IP

He didn’t have enough IP to qualify when I ran the search. But you’re right, he is up there.

by npurcell on Jul 13, 2008 11:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Billz

Billingsley is obviously a very special talent, and I think he gets plenty of national attention given the circumstances.

The national spotlight comes more from success than potential, IMO, and with Billz struggling a little to start his career and working out of the pen in the Pacific time zone, he just isn’t yet on the national radar the way Verlander or Lincecum were/are. Joba is a special case because he’s a Yankee, but he also had the “spotlight” of last year’s playoffs to boost his national profile. IMO, Billz gets as much national coverage as Cain, if not more.

I don’t think there’s any question that if Billingsley continues to pitch the way he has the last 2 months, he will get plenty of attention.

Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball

by Yakker on Jul 14, 2008 12:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cain

Cain has been great lately and he hasn’t gotten much publicity at all, as has Volquez to a slighter degree. But yeah Billingsley has been great and its good to see from his last start that his walks are down.

by kingaro on Jul 14, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice comparison

A guy on one of the Giants’ boards two years ago was putting down Chad Billingsley, calling him “Babs.” Despite this gaffe, which was mostly in jest, the guy is actually a good observer of the game (although he like John may have undervalued Mike Pelfrey, even though the guy I’m talking about lives in New York (Queens).

At that time I mentioned that there were many similarities between Chad and the Giants’ Matt Cain, one of the pitchers you mentioned here. At that time I said the two seemed quite close to me, but that I gave a slight edge to Cain.

Now I think Billingsley has the edge, and it is much larger than I originally thought it was to Matt.

That said, your point that Matt is pitching well is a very observant one. Matt is a second-half pitcher, and thus far he has been unscored upon in two of his three second-half starts. In reality, Matt has pitched pretty well since making the worst start of his career on April 18th. Since then, he has gone 106 innings with an ERA of 3.23, yielding 91hits and 38 walks while striking out 102 (2.68 K/BB ratio).

Matt’s problem in the past hasn’t been that he hasn’t been a good pitcher; it has been that he has been an inconsistent one. With his usual strong second halves, could this be the season in which after making his fourth start of the season on April 18th, Matt finds consistency?

I like his chances. The question would then be, will it last? Matt pitched similarly the last two months of last season to how he has pitched since April 18th, but he certainly didn’t have it early this season. But if Matt can maintain it through the rest of the season, I think I would guess that he HAS gained his consistency on a fairly long-term basis.

by sharksrog on Jul 14, 2008 8:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bullpen helped

I watch about 90% of Dodger games on TV, so I’ve seen most, if not all, of Billingsley’s starts his rookie year, last year, and this year.

For me, the one thing that helped him was the trip to the bullpen last year.

Remember the well-documented Billingsley 1.66 WHIP contraversy of 2006. There was quite a bit of doubt about how he would develop and how quickly after his rookie year. (How did his 3.80 ERA look when you considered his peripherals? etc.)

I was a tad bit skeptical myself, just because of the sheer number of guys he walked. (58 BB – 59 K) His pitching seemed to be a bit “on the nose” if you know what I mean. He was wild and hitters knew for the most part when to swing and when not to.

I remember he would put runners, and then more often than not he would bear down and no one could get the big hit off him, which is how he kept his ERA below 4, which actually seems like a miracle looking back on it.

In 2007, he pitched out of the bullpen to begin in April and May, and this seemed to be when he experimented with new ways of getting hitters out. He trusted his stuff and threw pitches in different counts. Grady used him in low leverage situations to start (could be wrong on that), and it was in the bullpen that he learned to strike guys out, which is without a doubt the strength of his game.

Personally, I think Kershaw should go in the bullpen for the rest of the season and maybe he can give us something similar to Bills’ 2007 in 2009. Then again, I see the same things in Kuo right now that I saw in Billingsley when he was working out of the pen.

Does anyone else think Kershaw in the pen could do the same thing Kuo is doing there now and Kuo in the rotation would be amazing? I guess they have to protect his arm.

by jumanjifan01 on Jul 14, 2008 6:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Kuo,

I don’t think he’ll ever go back to being a starter. He seems to be too injury prone throughout his career. Pitching him from the pen gives LA a great middle reliever who could eventually become a dominant closer. Granted not having Kuo in the starting rotation seems like a waste of his talent, I’d rather see him pitch 100 innings a year with good health rather than 100 innings a year bouncing from the DL, minor league rehab starts, and in the starting rotation…

"When Justin Upton faces Lincecum, I think Christ might appear in the heavens, and the world will end." -JakeFree

by JT12340 on Jul 14, 2008 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Point taken

He’s found something that seems to work for him and there’s no reason to risk his talent

by jumanjifan01 on Jul 14, 2008 8:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Billingsley is real good

But don’t overreact. He is one of the best young pitchers but that’s well known. His career oba and slugging against: .3317/.368. Aaron Laffey is .331/.377.

He is obviously better than Laffey, who has a small sample size, but just pointing out the numbers. Hey, David Bush had a 13 k night the other night too. :)

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If the Dodgers and Chad pile up some wins, he’ll get more publicity. Obviously. He’s getting there. He started off this season 1-4 with a 5+ era in April, but now putting that behind him.

by wobatus on Jul 15, 2008 7:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Laffey

I know you said Bills is obviously better, but I don’t really see any reason for comparison between the two.

1) That’s a pretty low career OBP against for a guy who’s had control problems for most of his career up til now.

2) Bills has the scouting pedigree to go with the outstanding numbers, and more than 3X as many strikeouts as Laffey on the year

by jumanjifan01 on Jul 15, 2008 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

laffey

I gave the Laffey comparison knowing he is not anywhere near as respected and a completely different pitcher. BUT, the net effect of his pitching has been pretty much the same. mid 3 era, oba and slugging against similar.

Laffey gets it done differently. And I don’t know that he can continue, but he has a nice ground ball ratio.

But my point was that Billingsley is NOT flying under the radar. As you say, he has scouts pedigree and a much higher k rate. Everyone in fact loves him; they don’t underrate him. Guys like laffey might be underrated, not Billingsley.

Is Billinglsey the best young pitcher no one ever talks about? I think people that follow the game do talk about him, all the more so when he comes off a great game like the other day. me, i tried to pry hinm from someone in my league in April when he “struggled”. Couldn’t do it. The guy may not freeze him as he only has so much room and has Lincecum and Hamels too.

by wobatus on Jul 15, 2008 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs