On Tuesday, baseball analytics website FanGraphs.com published a post by author Bradley Woodrum of CubsStats.com, dissecting Jeff Samardzija’s first start of the 2012 season.
The post focuses on Samardzija’s repertoire of two fastballs, a slider, and a change-up/splitter, and explains how he used these pitches effectively in his first start. Woodrum says:
“Now we can clearly see why the Chicago Cubs scouts have loved Samardzija for so long — he throws really hard and has some obliterating pitches (two obliterators, to be precise, one good-enough-er, and one uh-that’s-enougher). But we need to see some actual positive signs before we crown him a capable starter. Well, look no further than the past year.”
Is one start too small of a sample size to jump to conclusions about his long-term Major League effectiveness? Woodrum addresses that concern by looking at Samardijza’s improvement throughout his 2011 campaign and into spring training this year, as "The Shark" managed to cut his walk rate almost in half while maintaining the same strikeout rate. (Hey look, I wrote a similar thing last week!) While the post describes Samardzija's improvement, the author goes out of his way to temper expectations of the 26-year-old right hander:
“I will posit that this last year suggests, above all, that Samardzija can be a capable starter. Maybe never a No. 1 or No. 2 starter, but he could perceivably maintain an ERA-/FIP- in the 85 to 95 range (think: Shaun Marcum orMark Buehrle). For a Cubs organization desperate for pitching depth, that is huge.”
Click here to read the informative article on the FanGraphs website.