Mike Pelfrey has been an interesting story for the Mets. He was touted as the Mets new ace of the future for a while, and then as a starter of the future. He has struggled and at the same time, showed signs of great things to come. Lets look at where he has come so far since 2006:
Spring Training Stats:
2006- 1.29 ERA, 2 G, 7.0 IP, ER, HR, BB, 6K
2007- 5.48 ERA, 6 G, 23. IP, 14 ER, 3BB, 5K
2008- 7.56 ERA, 3 G, 8.1 IP, 7 ER, 4BB, 4K
MLB Season Stats:
2006: 2-1, 5.48, 4G, 21.1 IP, 13 ER, 12BB, 13K
2007: 3-8, 5.57, 15G, 72.2 IP, 45 ER, 39BB, 45 K
First off, lets breakdown his stats for Spring Training 2008. He wen 5.0 IP without any BB and without any ER (Technically, 7.0 scoreless innings in a row). Over 1.1 Innings, he let in 7 runs. He hit a rough spot and started to struggle. This has been the main critique that I have had of Pelfrey over the past few years is that he gets through the order fine the first time around, then struggles when trying to get through it again. Still, his Spring, without these 1.1 innings has been very good when compared to his 2007 Spring and his 06 and 07 MLB season.
Even though his ERA's in all categories have been rising through the years, I feel that this year in the MLB, his ERA will dive below what they have been. There was an article on mets.com today about how Pelfrey is trying new perceptive tactics this season to allow him to pitch more efficiently, its an interesting article, go check it out. It really talks about the need for him to do this because he was tipping pitches, that is more than enough reason to explain his inflated statistics.
(all stats from thebaseballcube.com and mets.com)
