For two years Gio Gonzalez has outperformed his FIP, which suggests that luck has played a factor in his success. It doesn’t help that his career home/road splits (3.56 ERA/4.05 FIP at home, 4.32 ERA/3.90 FIP on road) show exactly how much he benefited from Oakland’s home park. He also struggles mightily with his control (career 11.3 BB%), which makes it nearly impossible for him to have a low WHIP. All that being said, he strikes out a lot of batters and induces a lot of ground balls so it seems to work. Just don’t think he’s going to get much better as you’ve probably seen his upside unless he miraculously figures out how to throw the ball over the plate on a consistent basis.
Best case scenario: David Price (TB)
Similar players: Ubaldo Jimenez (CLE), Matt Garza (CHC), Michael Pineda (NYY)
Worst case scenario: Edinson Volquez (CIN)
Strengths
Strikeouts, ground balls, move to NL. Gonzalez was able to reduce the amount of contact opposing hitters mad...
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