On MLB Now, a show featuring old school stats vs sabermetrics on MLB Network they have featured a little part of the show to Harvey v.s. Kershaw. Brian Kenny, the sabermetrics follower on the show believes that Harvey is better despite the innings difference between Kershaw and Harvey.
Kershaw has pitched 160 innings this season, his 1.96 ERA is amazing and it is best in the majors for a starter. Harvey on the other hand has only 145 IP and his 2.11 ERA is a bit behind Kershaw. However, if you dig into sabermetrics you see that Harvey could be better...
FIP, (Fielding Independent Pitching) which is a better predictor of ERA and it takes fielding by his fielders into account. Harvey is at 2.05 which means he is pitching slightly better then his ERA. Kershaw's FIP is 2.50. Over .50 of a difference! The Dodgers defense is performing behind Kershaw amazing, better then what his ERA suggests.
K%, the percent that you strike out a batter, measures dominance because striking out batters should be considered dominating. Harvey has a 29.6% ,and Kershaw has a 25.5%. At least on strikeouts it's another "W" for Harvey.
WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is a good measurement for batters and pitchers. Harvey has a 4.9 WAR, and Kershaw has a 4.3 WAR. Harvey once again wins on a sabermetric stat.
BB% the percent that you walk a batter measures the ability to control your pitches. Remember the lower, the better. Harvey has a 5.2% and Kershaw has 5.7%.
After showing why Harvey is better by all sabermetric stats, I hope you use these great stats also. We need to move on from Wins-Losses and ERA.
No comments:
Post a Comment