Brian Bannister

by fourthandeye on Aug 17, 2008 9:41 PM EDT

During Spring Training Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports wrote a piece on Brian Bannister called "Royals' Bannister unafraid to do the math". Passan wrote that "Bannister is the first big-league starter to so publicly embrace sabermetrics". He extended that notion to suggest that because Bannister embraces and studies concepts like BABIP and studies pitch f/x data he may be better equipped to go against the grain and compete without great stuff. In March there was a thread in this community on the Passan article.

Today Bannister's nightmare 2008 season continued as he yielded 10 ER in 1 IP further ballooning his ERA to 5.96. Only Carlos Silva, among leaderboard qualifiers, has a worse ERA in the majors.

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His command has been awful lately.

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on Aug 17, 2008 10:13 PM EDT reply actions

Well, imagine how much worse he would be

if he weren’t using his head as much as he is. It’s kind of like how fringe players benefit the most (relative to their abiliy) from steroid use. I hope he’s just running through a rough patch and gets it together — he’s a great story and an easy guy to root for.

by Flynn Blake on Aug 17, 2008 10:38 PM EDT reply actions

Easy guy to root for

Unless you cheer for the team he pitches for ;(

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Aug 18, 2008 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Banny

It’s one thing to study and understand and something else to actually do it. I can read about how to pitch and understand the stats behind it, but that does not mean I can do it better than someone who is completely ignorant.

In other words, I’m sure that sabr knowledge helps, but talent has to be the driving factor.

by count sutton on Aug 18, 2008 2:38 PM EDT reply actions

As Expected

Bannister’s regression was quite predictable, if people had just looked at his underlying ratios. Despite knowing all about sabremetrics, it turns out he wasn’t able to maintain his ridiculously-low .266 BABIP from 2007.

While his command has worsened a touch, his K/BB has actually improved.

Bottom line: He wasn’t as good a pitcher as he showed (to some) in 2007; he’s not as bad as he looks right now. Look for him to improve a bit from this line and be a cheap, back-end starter for KC for a few more years.

Oh, and here’s another diary in which many of us chatted about Banny. More interesting point/counterpoint than the one linked to by the OP, IMO.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/3/25/332666/which-group-of-young-pitch

Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball

by Yakker on Aug 18, 2008 6:22 PM EDT reply actions