#PitchersWhoRake are really popular around The Nats Blog. Who doesn’t love it when a Nationals’ pitcher comes through with a base knock? So far in 2016, Nats’ pitchers have been raking their way to the fifth best offensive output from pitchers in the National League, prior to Max Scherzer’s 0-2 with a walk day in the win versus the Marlins on Sunday.
Now, we are talking pitchers so the Nationals’ .186 wOBA (all stats current following the conclusion of Saturday’s games) isn’t good, per se, but it’s miles ahead of the last place Brewers’ pitching staff and their .080 wOBA. Complain all you want about Danny Espinosa’s offense, but Nationals’ pitchers have produced as much offense as the Braves’ shortstops and their .190 wOBA. As far pitchers go, that .186 wOBA isn’t that far behind the league leading Mets and their .219 wOBA, although it is hard to compete from a talent perspective with Noah Syndergaard’s two home runs and impossible to compete from an entertainment perspective with Bartolo Colon’s home run.
Most of the teams in front of the Nats’ pitching staff are propped up by the efforts of a couple of individual pitchers and not the staff as a whole. The second place Cubs are paced by Jake Arrieta, whose .238 batting average is miles ahead of the .153 batting average he’s currently allowing to opposing hitters. The Diamondbacks starters may be struggling as pitchers, but they check in as the fourth best offensive staff by wOBA thanks to the pairing of Zack Greinke and Patrick Corbin. The Nationals’ starting rotation, though, are solid hitters from top to (almost) bottom.
Leading the way for the Nats is Joe Ross. It’s no surprise the young starter has been the best hitter so far this season. He’s impressed Dusty Baker enough with a .235 batting average and .350 OBP to even serve as a pinch hitter a couple times this season. Not too far behind Ross is Max Scherzer, with a .239 wOBA and 3 RBI. Gio Gonzalez can still run into a pitch and has been the third best hitting pitcher for the Nats in 2016. Interestingly enough, Gio has a higher batting average on the year, .231, than he does OBP, .214, which I didn’t know was even possible until today (it’s possible because Gio has one sacrifice fly on the year, which still counts as a plate appearance and an out in the calculation of OBP). Fourth in the Nats’ rotation is former Silver Slugger winner Stephen Strasburg, who is hitting only .174 on the year. Nationals’ fans have seen what Strasburg is capable of with the bat and he figures to see better results going forward. Finally, Tanner Roark has struggled with the bat as he’s yet to register a base knock this season. Hey, four out of five ain’t bad.
Despite Roark’s struggles with the bat, Nationals’ pitchers have held their own at the plate. They haven’t been sure outs in the nine hole, and Dusty Baker has used that to his advantage. Several times this year, Dusty has called on his pitchers in an obvious sacrifice bunting situation to fake a sacrifice bunt and instead take a full hack on the pitch. Defenders now have that in the back of their minds causing at least a moment of pause before charging hard on a pitcher showing bunt early. Having pitchers who can hit also forces opposing pitchers to work a little harder to get through the lineup, making life a little easier for the rest of the team. All in all, a good season offensively for one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. The only thing they haven’t delivered yet? A home run. So then the real question then becomes: Which pitcher will be the first to go yard?
Tags: Bartolo Colon, Gio Gonzalez, Joe Ross, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Tanner Roark
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