Ultimately, what sunk the Blue Jays in 2022 was inconsistent starting pitching.
That begs the question, is the Blue Jays rotation better now with the addition of Chris Bassitt? Long story short, it depends on how the back end of the rotation does.
Let’s dig into the numbers.
The locks in the rotation:
In this section, we’ll look at the four locks for the 2023 Blue Jays rotation.
Alek Manoah:
The 25-year-old had his best career season in 2022, positing a 2.24 ERA and a 3.35 FIP in 196.2 innings pitched. His K% dropped from 27.7% in 2021, to 22.9% in 2022. However, his BB% dropped to 6.5%, which is above average. Manoah finished third in the Cy Young voting, the third straight year a Blue Jay starter has been nominated.
Alek Manoah, Sick 85mph Changeup. 🤒
That’s about as good a change as I’ve seen Manoah throw. pic.twitter.com/M8xJUigVnX
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 30, 2022
The name of the game for Manoah is limiting hard contact. This is a big reason why his FIP is a full run higher than his ERA. This also shows FIP’s flaws, as ignoring contact (a big part of the game) can lead to incorrect assumptions.
Manoah is a great pitcher despite his steamer predictions. Expect him to only get better.
Kevin Gausman:
It’s the total opposite for Kevin Gausman. In 2022, he posted a 3.35 ERA, but a pretty fantastic 2.38 FIP in 174.2 innings pitched. Moreover, he had a 28.3 K% and a very low 3.9 BB% for a 24.4 K-BB%.
Kevin Gausman’s 5th and 6th Ks.
Thru 4. pic.twitter.com/uGUuTfcs1Q
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 8, 2022
The big discrepancy between ERA and FIP is due to Gausman’s high line drive p …
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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation