We’ve noted many times over the years that relief pitchers are a fickle bunch. We only get 60 or 70 innings to evaluate each season, making the effort of predicting their future performance an at times futile one. Luke Gregerson was dominant in his first two seasons in San Diego, but despite a drop in ERA, he struggled in 2011. The numbers:
Year
Inn.
ERA
K/9
BB/9
HR/9
FIP
2009
75
3.24
11.2
3.7
.4
2.50
2010
78.3
3.22
10.2
2.1
.9
2.86
2011
55.7
2.75
5.5
3.1
.3
3.40
Gregerson struck out nearly 30 percent of batters in his first two seasons. Last year, his strikeout percentage fell to 14.1. That’s an alarming drop.
Using the new PITCHf/x tool created by Brooks Baseball and The Hardball Times, we can take a quick look inside the numbers. Gregerson relies heavily on his slider and below are some numbers for that pitch:
Year
SL%
MPH
Call Str.
Swings
Whiffs/Swings
2009
51
84.1
15.8
55.3
46.7
2010
59
84.7
17.4
53.3
40.1
2011
54
85.5
13.6
52.3
33.5
Gregerson is still g...
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