Chris Bosio is Groundball Magic

[Transmogrified Tiger]

This is an idea that's been covered before, Obstructed View did something on the same topic a month ago. With another full month to expand the sample I thought it'd be fun to revisit the fact that Chris Bosio appears to have a universal impact on Ground Ball rates.

 

Name           Pre-Bosio   2012   2013
Samardzija       40.3      44.6   48.4
Garza            41.0      47.3   43.6
Wood             31.4      34.3   37.0
Jackson          43.8       N/A   50.8
Villanueva       38.8       N/A   45.3
Feldman          46.5       N/A   50.6

 

On an individual level there's at least a reasonable explanation for any individual guy(Feldman's had high GB rates forever, Shark getting a chance to expand his repertoire as a starter, small sample size for Jackson, etc), but when you see it laid out cumulatively it becomes striking.

 

When you combine this with the FO's priority towards infield defense, along with the FO's general acumen it adds up to an ability to fill out a rotation pretty well without breaking the bank.

 

The funny thing to me is despite the improvements across the staff, you don't seem to hear of Bosio being a big proponent of a single pitch like Duncan or Don Cooper. Another good sign if you ask me.

 

Any thoughts here? I'm no pitching expert and don't see as many games as I'd like, so I'm curious if there's anything that people are seeing that might contribute to this as well.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Fascinating. The synergy there is amazingly brilliant.

 

It's basically the flip-side of their "look for high pitches you can drive" offensive philosophy, which also appears to be paying dividends.

[pitchcs]

Was Bosio a groundball pitcher when he played?

[Sammy Sofa]

Me likee.

[Guest]

I hope this positive trend is as a result of the philosophy. Sinker ballers have historically done very well in Wrigley.

[Cubswin11]

I'm too lazy to look it up but I'd imagine Jackson's peripherals are much better than his surface numbers with a 50% rate? He has to have run into a bit of babip back luck and/or is walking too many guys.

[Tryptamine]

I'm too lazy to look it up but I'd imagine Jackson's peripherals are much better than his surface numbers with a 50% rate? He has to have run into a bit of babip back luck and/or is walking too many guys.

 

He's been extremely unlucky. To go along with 6.11ERA he has a 3.68FIP, 3.67xFIP and a 3.81SIERA. Right now his BABIP is .341 which is quite high and his strand rate is only 56.4% which is about 15% below where it should be. Strangely enough, his K/9 is the highest of his career at 8.83 and his K/BB is his highest since 2007 at 3.74K/BB.

[KaiserCesar]

I'm too lazy to look it up but I'd imagine Jackson's peripherals are much better than his surface numbers with a 50% rate? He has to have run into a bit of babip back luck and/or is walking too many guys.

 

FIP and xFIP are 3.68 and 3.67, respectively. The high ERA appears to be a result of a combination of high BABIP and low LOB%.

[bhogg]

I love it. Have a plan and stick to it.