Brian Duensing
entered last night’s start owning the third-highest WHIP against right-handed
batters (1.63) – only surpassed by San Francisco’s Jonathan Sanchez (1.64) and
Detroit’s Phil Coke (1.77) – in 2011.
This is not
any accident of sample size either, as including last season the Twins’
left-hander has the fourth-highest WHIP among qualified starters. It is an
amazing contrast for the Minnesota starter considering he has managed to
compile some impressive numbers against his southpawed brethren. Since 2010 he
has a baseball-best 0.81 WHIP with the fourth-lowest .187 batting average when
facing same-sided opponents.
When facing
lefties, Duensing’s approach is to work the fastball in on the hands and then
unleash his sharp slider off the plate down-and-away. Lefties have found this
extremely difficult to hit hard – if they make contact - beating the ball into
the ground 52% of the time in 2011. This means few extra base hits. Pepper in
his ability to get them to chase a r...
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