Who would have thought that Mike Leake would be the team's ACE through April?

Our best starting pitcher, the ACE of our staff, is going tonight to show once again why he's the best pitcher on this starting staff through April.

Everybody wear a T-shirt to the game.

Make it T-shirt night.

Why do you feel he has been the ACE? Please tell me it's not just because of his record?

Leake (3.84 FIP) and Arroyo (3.58 FIP) have both pitched really well. However, I'll give the edge to Bronson since he sports a better K/9 and a better BB/9.

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Originally Posted by brm7675

Why do you feel he has been the ACE? Please tell me it's not just because of his record?

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His OPS Against mainly, and his innings pitched per game.

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Originally Posted by signalhome

Leake (3.84 FIP) and Arroyo (3.58 FIP) have both pitched really well. However, I'll give the edge to Bronson since he sports a better K/9 and a better BB/9.

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Arroyo's OPS-Against is an absolutely horrible .810.

Leake's is a very, very good .650.

And, at a time when the REDS needed it the most, Leake, in his last start, earned a 7-4 victory over Arizona last Thursday after going seven innings and giving up three earned runs on four hits while striking out seven. He retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced, including his last eight, and threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 27.

Wins do matter, though Felix Hernandez couldn't get any last season.

Arroyo digs in and gets the pitch when he needs it, though. That's how "Aces" do it. So, Arroyo could be the Ace, too, when you add that FIP in there and some other things.

Actually, Sam LeCure pitched better than anyone, to be honest.

Leake has had 9.3 runs scored for him per game. (5.1) (2010 runs scored per game in Parentheses)

Arroyo 5.9. (4.8)
Volquez 5.1. (5.2)
LeCure 4.3. (4.5)
Wood 3.3. (4.8)


Kyle Lohse (.440 OPS-Against!!!; and, 6.4 Runs scored per game for him)
Aaron Harang (.564 OPS-Against!!!; and, 5.0 Runs scored per game for him)

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Originally Posted by Kingspoint

Our best starting pitcher, the ACE of our staff, is going tonight to show once again why he's the best pitcher on this starting staff through April.

Everybody wear a T-shirt to the game.

Make it T-shirt night.

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I think you meant Arroyo has been the ACE in April

for starters

He has 3 wins which leads the team
He has the lowest ERA
He has the most innings pitched
He has the fewest walks

Leake has close to a 5 ERA, not what anyone would call ACE stuff

We don't have an Ace, or a # 2 man IMO.

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Originally Posted by Grouse

We don't have an Ace, or a # 2 man IMO.

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Countdown to BRM post of "what is an ace" 3, 2,.....

"It always fun to pitch when you get that many runs early. It makes it that much easier to pitch with less effort." Bronson Arroyo

Mike Leake has pitched with large leads almost the entire season. In fact the 11-2 win at Pittsburgh was the only game he pitched all season where the Reds did not score at least 4 runs in the first 2 innings.

You can throw out whatever stats you like, when you have a "command guy" that is walking nearly 4 guys per 9 in situations that would dictate he should go right after people I really don't have a lot of confidence in him making pitches in close games. And as such I would not label him an ace by any stretch.

If on the other hand he is some sort of lucky talisman that causes the offense to score 9 runs a game when he starts play him at SS on the days he does not start.:D

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Originally Posted by Kingspoint

Arroyo's OPS-Against is an absolutely horrible .810.

Leake's is a very, very good .650.

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True, but a lot of that has been influenced by BABIP. Arroyo's is .323 while Leake's is .265. That's a pretty wide split, especially when you consider hitters are hitting line drives at a rate of 22.4% against Leake and only 18.8% against Arroyo; Leake has been extremely fortunate with his BABIP while Arroyo has been unlucky. K/9 and BB/9, the two things the pitcher has the most control over, are much more in Arroyo's favor.

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Originally Posted by Kingspoint

Arroyo digs in and gets the pitch when he needs it, though. That's how "Aces" do it. So, Arroyo could be the Ace, too, when you add that FIP in there and some other things.

Actually, Sam LeCure pitched better than anyone, to be honest.

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I do agree that LeCure has arguably pitched better than anyone on the team. If you just look at ERA or even FIP, you may think he's been pretty bad. However, his numbers are greatly inflated due to an unbelievable 21.1% HR/FB. Batters are only hitting line drives off him at a 9.1% rate (which supports the .214 BABIP on the year, though the line drive rate will certainly normalize to an extent), he's striking out 8.83 per 9, and is sporting a 2.08 BB/9. That's pretty impressive stuff, and it's why his xFIP (which normalizes HR/FB) is 3.05.

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Originally Posted by Kingspoint

And, at a time when the REDS needed it the most, Leake, in his last start, earned a 7-4 victory over Arizona last Thursday after going seven innings and giving up three earned runs on four hits while striking out seven. He retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced, including his last eight, and threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 27.

Wins do matter, though Felix Hernandez couldn't get any last season.

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Chris Carpenter has given up 2, 1, 8, 0, and 2 ER in his five starts this season. He has an 0-2 record to show for it, even though he has pitched very well in four games. Wins is the most overblown statistic in baseball.