Les Carpenter Goes to Bat for Kluwe
I’d never heard the name Les Carpenter today, but I’m worried I’ve missed out on a lot of amazing articles based on the Yahoo piece he posted today in support of Chris Kluwe.
Chris Kluwe’s release by Vikings sends message that gay-marriage talk is not tolerable in NFL.
The great threat to the fabric of football did not brandish an arsenal of guns when I met Chris Kluwe in his living room in the fall of 2011. He didn’t swill whiskey as we drove to his band’s practice. Nor did he store PEDs in his refrigerator, instead opting for piles of fruit and a carton of milk. His television was off as it often is because – gasp – Kluwe likes to read.
There appears to be a troubling undercurrent to this paragraph that reveals how Carpenter views most NFL players. He’s painted an implied picture that is equal parts ugly and unfair; one that reveals an apparent view that the average NFL player is an illiterate, gun-toting, drunk-driving, steroid popping meat-head.
For eight years, Kluwe was the team’s punter. In fact he had been a very effective punter, deadening his kicks as if his leg was a 9-iron. He was a sure-handed holder on field goals and extra points, invisible in the way you want your holder to be. And given the trouble teams have in finding gifted punters and dependable holders, it seemed he would remain the Vikings’ punter for a long, long time.
Kluwe was the team’s punter for eight years, but he was not an effective punter for all eight of those years. Kluwe’s ability to punt for a high net has waxed and waned over the years, but he has consistently struggled with the ability to place the ball inside the 20 and to kick the ball directionally.
- In his eight years as a Viking Kluwe has finished in the top 10 for punts inside the 20 yard line twice. His average finish has been 18th. His average finish outside of those two top ten finishes was 23rd.
- In that same time he’s finished in the top 10 for net punting average only once, at 10th, and has averaged a 19th place finish.
- In the five years for which return percentage is available (2005-2012) Kluwe finished in the top 10 only once and averaged a 20th place finish.
None of this is meant to demean or diminish Kluwe. He has indeed been a very solid holder and while he has his flaws as a punter provided stability within the special teams for a long time. However, outside of an excellent 2010, he’s shown decline for several years and as outlined in my last post finished at or near the bottom of every significant statistical category for punters.
Kluwe never asked if it was his activism that cost him his job. The Vikings never offered the thought even as the answer loomed obvious to everyone else.
Many of us who follow the Vikings were surprised Kluwe returned this season after an abysmal 2011, but he did and was worse. Perhaps that’s why it didn’t loom obvious to everyone else, because Kluwe’s on-field performance was so clearly below what the Vikings would expect for a $1.45M salary, which would have made Kluwe one of the top ten paid punters in the NFL this season.
Kluwe never asked if it was his activism that cost him his job. The Vikings never offered the thought even as the answer loomed obvious to everyone else. Two football players have spoken loud for gay rights issues in the last several months, specifically gay marriage: Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo. Both have been cut. And while you could argue Ayanbadejo was a financial casualty for a team desperate to get under the salary cap, Kluwe was a modest budget strain to the Vikings; he was scheduled to make $1.45 million in 2013. What happened to him makes little sense. Except it makes lots of sense.
I love Brendon Ayanbadejo and support his good work. I think he’s a kind, thoughtful and genuine human being who cares deeply about the people in his community.
However, he was going to be 37 by the time the 2013 season rolled around and has not posted a positive PFF grade for special teams or as a LB since 2009. The Ravens, as part of a larger effort to inject youth into their defense, parted ways with him as they did with other veterans including Ed Reed and Ray Lewis.
Implying that either player has been cast aside for their beliefs without some form of substantiation is irresponsible, but it is perhaps even more insulting to the Ravens whose owner openly supported Ayabadejo’s right to speak out about what he believed in and gave him personal assurances that they are not an organization that discriminates.
Still, the Vikings seemed threatened by Kluwe over the past couple of years. Where coaches once praised his ability for “coverable” punts that put opponents in bad field position, they grumbled about him last season.
Isn’t it worth entertaining the notion that they grumbled about his performance on the basis of his performance? Kluwe’s punts were clearly not as “coverable” as they were in 2010 when they sang his praises.
In 2010 just 38.6% of his punts were returned. In 2011 that number leaped to 54.5% and continued to rise to 56.9% in 2012.
His 26.5% fair catch percentage tumbled all the way to 15.8% in 2012–27th in the NFL.
Kluwe said Monday no one from the team complained to him about the Ray Guy sign, just as no coach or executive ever told him to back off his Internet crusades. Basically, he said, they left him alone and let him punt. He gave the Vikings another fine season: dropping 25 percent of his kicks inside the 20-yard line with only two touchbacks and a career-best 39.7 yard net punting average.
But because he is now the great threat to the social fabric of the NFL he was cut.
Try to work your way through the circuitous logic in play here. No one from the Vikings told him to stop speaking out about gay marriage, no one complained to him about his Ray Guy antics. All they concentrated on was football.
Yet somehow Carpenter has divined some secret bigotry or bias at play. The amazing thing about the paltry statistical evidence he did supply is that one of the two stats he cited is actually one of the arguments against Kluwe. Dropping 25% of your kicks inside the 20 is not a good result. It ranked 31st in the NFL last season. The NFL’s leader, Dustin Colquitt, put 54.2% of his kicks inside the 20.
Only one punter in the entire NFL put a lower percentage of his kicks inside the 20, Mat McBriar, and he’s currently without a job.
If nothing else there is irony in the band’s name, Tripping Icarus. For Icarus was the young man from mythology who tried to leave the Island of Crete with wings made of feather and wax. As he flew he ignored the warnings of his father not to fly too close to the sun. The wax melted, the feathers came of and Icarus fell into the sea.
Much like Icarus, the man who did everything the Minnesota Vikings asked of him was cast into the sea. Apparently he too had flown too close to the sun.
Oh Icarus, fly not too near the sun, lest thy outkick thine coverage.
Kluwe doesn’t strike me as a bad guy, and I support him or anyone who wants to speak out about marriage equality. However, unless Carpenter has something, even a rumor of note, to substantiate his accusations throwing them around so casually is at best irresponsible.
I worry this kind of histrionics in the face of what is an obvious personnel decision could have a chilling effect and make players who do speak out undesirable not for the controvery they may court when speaking out, but for the questions they’ll bring if cut.
The sad truth of matters is that if there’s any movement in this country that’s already had more than its fair share of martyrs, it’s the gay rights movement. I won’t minimize their sacrifices by mentioning them in a sports blog, but Carpenter’s attempts to manufacture a narrative that establishes Kluwe’s martyrdom disrespects each and every person who has truly suffered for the cause of advancing civil rights.
The Stats Behind Kluwe’s Release
Prior to the 2012 NFL season there were only two places Chris Kluwe was widely known: Minnesota and the high dwarven plans of Kalimdor. Between his twitter antics, his retro gaming inspired band and his unabashed love for MMORPGs Kluwe gained a small but significant following around the country.
His visibility obviously changed dramatically in 2012 when he came to the defense of Ravens LB Brendon Ayanbadejo, whose sincere and cerebral advocacy of marriage equality was making waves in Baltimore.
An impromptu career as a social activist was born and Kluwe was soon seen and heard frequently talking about the need to advance gay rights and marriage equality. Now, just months later Kluwe finds himself out of work.
Given Kluwe’s outspoken nature about what remains a hotly contested issue in this country, it’s fair to put the move under the microscope.
Judging a Punter
Over the course of Kluwe’s eight year Vikings career his statistics have remained consistent in a number of categories. When this move is questioned you’ll be most likely to hear two stats mentioned: Kluwe’s average and net average:
In 2008 Kluwe was one of the best punters in the NFL in terms of average punt. His 47.6 yards per kick was 4th in the NFL. The following season he took a significant step backwards falling from 4th to 15th and hasn’t cracked the top ten since.
Kluwe has of course kicked with some questionable coverage units lining up behind him, but in his eight year career he’s only made one appearance in the top ten for net punting average (2010, 10th).
Overall there are some statistical question marks here, but the variation is slight enough that it requires looking at further statistics to paint a more complete picture of Kluwe’s performance.
Looking Deeper
There are a number of problems when it comes to judging punters by their average and net punting averages. Punting is not simply a question of booming the ball as deep as possible. Other skills are just as important, if not more so, than the ability to get distance.
An elite punter needs the ability to vary distance based on situation, to keep kicks in the air long enough to allow their coverage units to fully deploy and to punt directionaly to pin returners against the sideline or even make a return impossible.
While Kluwe has the strength to kick it deep with consistency, he falls short in a number of these other categories. This evidences itself in two key statistics: percentage of punts returned and punts inside the 20.
Between the 2008 and 2012 seasons a little over 47% of all punts in the NFL were returned. After showing improvement in 2009 and 2010, Kluwe began a dramatic regression. After posting a career best 38.6% kicks returned in 2010, Kluwe dropped to 54.5% before taking another step back to 58.4%.
In 2012 only 3 qualified punters had a higher percentage of their kicks returned than Kluwe: Saverio Rocca (WAS), Sam Koch (BAL), and Steve Weatherford (NYG).
Kluwe finished 2012 with a 24.7% inside the 20 percentage, the worst percentage he’s posted since his rookie year when only 23.9% of his punts were downed inside the 20. That 24.7% ranked him 31st for 32 qualified punters, ahead of only Mat McBriar (DAL).
Transforming Special Teams
After the 2011 season the Vikings began the process of remaking their special teams, making field position one of their primary priorities. In years past the Vikings offense had played on one of the longest fields in the NFL while their defense consistently defended one of the shortest, a topic I’ll discuss in later entries more in detail.
This process began with turnover in the coverage units and drafting big-legged Blair Walsh out of Georgia. Walsh returned immediate benefits not only with his long FGs but with his powerful kickoffs. In 2011 Minnesota finished 31st in kickoff distance with the fading Ryan Longwell lining up behind the tee. In 2012 they finished second, gaining over 5 yards per kick and pushing opposing offenses back from nearly the 24 yard line to just short of the 21.
The Vikings chose not to replace Kluwe after a flat 2011. Most likely because of his history with the club, his generally productive 2010 and the desire to pair a rookie kicker with a sure handed veteran holder. While they did retain him, the club also almost certainly tasked him with further developing his directional kicking game while trying to return to form across the board.
Unfortunately for Kluwe he continued to show the same issues with directional kicking that have plagued him most of his career. and the results were, as outlined, grim:
He did finish 2012 with a positive PFF scouting rating. Similarly, so did Ryan Longwell the year before he was replaced. His 8.5 PFF Rating placed him 32nd in the league, and Kluwe’s 9.9 wasn’t much more impressive.
While it is of course impossible to say whether or not Kluwe’s off the field activism or his Ray Guy antics played any role in his dismissal, there is a clear statistical case that Kluwe has been among the worst punters in the NFL the past two seasons. The Vikings have replaced one of the worst directional punters in the NFL with one of the best directional punting prospects the draft has seen in several years, and made significant real world and cap savings in the process.
This move does not appear out of character with the past moves Minnesota has made in replacing aging, under-performing, overpriced players with cost controlled assets when the opportunity presents itself.
If Kluwe had played better the past two seasons he’d be packing for Mankato right now, but like countless other veterans around the league he’s been replaced by a younger, cheaper and likely better option.
On Boston
It was difficult to watch the images trickling out of the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings yesterday. So much so that I simply had to tune out and let the information filter to me through the buffer of friends. Despite my attempts to keep the event at arm’s length, it still hit me and left me feeling as empty and lost as everyone else forced to contemplate what we’d just witnessed.
The bombs were an angry and snarling reminder of the capacity that some humans have for inhumanity–the degree to which some of us are capable of lashing out with savage intent. It was the kind of violence that could have made any of us, if only for a moment, question our faith in humanity’s capacity to maintain a civil society.
However, as doubtlessly and unquestionably horrible as those events were, what I took from the bombings and their aftermath was not that there are people who are willing to do harm–that will always be the case–I came away from that nightmare with a sincere and genuine appreciation for the desire that those of us who choose to be part of this civil society all have woven into us to reach out to others in times of need.
While the enduring images of the event will no doubt be the justifiably frightened people scattering from the chaos that followed the explosions, what I will remember are the countless people who were willing to run towards that same chaos to evacuate the wounded and provide aid.
In the hours that followed, story after story poured in chronicling acts of kindness both large and small. There was instant collaboration on the ground to pool resources to provide water, food, shelter, companionship and aid. People opened their homes and businesses to give runners and spectators a safe place to recover, somewhere to stay or even something as simple as somewhere to charge their cell phones.
In one of America’s largest cities there was no preoccupation with self, only a desire to reach out to everyone to make sure they did not have to endure this moment alone.
The society we’ve tried to build is imperfect in many ways, but our fundamental desire to help others and to look out for one another is ultimately what binds us in the face of even the most harrowing tragedies.
It would be both easy and understandable to allow the actions of the few truly inhuman people that walk among us to dictate how we view ourselves, but doing so would be a disservice to the countless good people who respond to events like this with selflessness, compassion, kindness and above all else humanity.
We should not and cannot allow those sparse ugly souls to define us. Our dignity demands no less.
Fuck you for making me write about golf
Let’s get this out of the way out of the gates: I love golf about as much as Jim Souhan loves himself.
Despite that I have no quarrel with golf. I tolerate the sport’s existence and I have no desire for it to be banished from the airwaves the way Notre Dame should be (click here for my Change.org petition).
Not that it’s without its merits. Without golf we wouldn’t have Caddyshack, which means we wouldn’t have Judge Smails who I consider a personal hero. I defy you to complete a round of miniature golf without firing off 15 Smails or Al Czervik quotes at minimum.
I also defy you to finish around of golf without firing off any of those Carl Spackler quotes from Caddyshack, but I actually mean it. Don’t fucking do it.
Much like soccer I have an internal timer that begins ticking whenever anyone begins discussing golf. With each grain of sand that trickles through that metaphorical hourglass I come that much closer to glazing over into the sweet release of catatonia, sailing off into the night sky like Payne Stewart en route to the longest vacation of my life.
So it goes without saying that I do not make it a habit of seeking out golf coverage. I do my best to avoid hearing what shaft technology people think should be outlawed now, which child golfer Korea has sent over to dominate the LPGA or who we’re pretending John Daly isn’t beating these days.
Despite that over the past few days I have been unable to avoid the growing specter of Tiger’s supposed illegal drop on 15 at Augusta. Expert after expert has been rolled out at a pace so dizzying I have to believe some of them are being freshly minted for the occasion. The entire controversy is hanging over every sports show–both on television and radio–like a stench emanating from Tiger’s dead front tooth.
Expert after expert has reviewed the footage like Joe Rogan watching WTC7 come down four bowls in looking for signs of CGI. We’ve seen video analysis, photo analysis, we’ve heard eye witness accounts, second hand accounts, impassioned debates, polls, viewer phone calls and more. All without addressing the elephant in the room.
Who the fuck cares?
Not only is this obviously a colossal waste of time, this was all instigated by a call into the PGA’s snitch hotline by some investment banker or cosmetic dentist sitting at home with his own leather-bound copy of the PGA rule book.
Firstly, this doesn’t say very good things about Thurston for calling in in the first place, but more importantly the fact that the PGA is willing to field these calls and take action on them creates an uneven playing field that tilts against the games premiere players generally, but especially against Tiger Woods.
Unequal Enforcement
Some 93 golfers took part in the Masters this year including Woods, eventual runoff partners Wood and Cabrera, teen heartthrob Tianlang Guan and the late Tom Watson.
While coverage of the tournament may have seemed interminable, for the vast majority of golfers only a small selection of shots ever see the air. Not so for Tiger Woods. Due to our ongoing obsession with story lines and where Tiger may or may not have put his penis, every single shot Tiger takes is aired including his set up, his actual shot and his reaction.
The net effect of this is every single tournament shot Tiger takes is subject to review by tens of thousands of self-appointed stringers who review it for potential infractions and report it to the home office for review.
Meanwhile that bastard Stewart Cink is left to do whatever he pleases away from the prying eyes of the public.
The only way to ensure an even standard is applied is to leave the judging to the on course officials. If a mistake is made on the course a penalty should be issued at the time of play. Once the card is signed and approved it’s time to move on. Mistakes happen. There is a human element to both golf and officiating and if a penalty is missed then it is missed. Both life and your terrible waste of real-estate go on.
I hear this place is restricted, Wang, so don’t tell ’em you‘re Jewish, okay?
You Are Not Part of the Game
Over the past 20 years reality TV has done much to convince us all we’re much more than just consumers. We want to convince ourselves we are active participants in what we watch. To a degree I’m a victim of that as well with my self-absorbed blog. However, I have no delusions of actually impacting the sports world and you shouldn’t either. Although you do have a Taylor Made self-wicking shirt training to contain your bulk, you’re not a golfer.
You are a spectator. So spectate.
So you’re sitting at home watching Tiger Woods try to nail an approach on 17. You’re watching one of the greatest athletes ever to play his sport try to do something fantastic. Enjoy the spectacle of one of the all time greats trying to achieve something special.
Embrace the role of a spectator and stop watching the sport like your grandfather watched his neighbors in Germany. Let the officials do their job and just relax and drink in the sport for what it is.
…Why DO you hate Tiger so much?
Tiger Woods is, from all appearances, not the greatest human being. Like many athletes he fits into the hyper alpha male mold of hyper competitiveness that drives him to define himself by his achievements both on and off the course. Worryingly though, infidelity is hardly a new phenomenon to athletes at large or golfers in particular. There are a string of golfers who have proven unfaithful to their wives. John Daly, a consistent favorite of the Golf Network crowd, has not only run through a string of four wives, he’s been in altercations with more than one and allegedly threw one into a wall.
I think it’s time for everyone hanging on Tiger’s every move just waiting for something to report back to the PGA to take a step back and ask honestly why they care so much? Why is it more important to catch Tiger in the act versus say Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson or any of the other people I just had to look up.
But please, above all else get this figured out before the next tournament so I don’t have to hear about it again. Thank you.
Thank You, Antoine
The 2004 off-season was a watershed moment for the Vikings franchise. Minnesota was mired in mediocrity and struggling to reach the next level, desperately in need of premiere players that could help elevate the talent already on the roster. Ridiculous Texas caricature Red McCombs and even more ridiculous caricature Mike Tice ambled onto the former’s private jet and flew to Buffalo in a desperate bid to land that free agency class’s premiere free agent target: the then 28 year old Antoine Winfield.
Winfield was a tenacious tackler with unique power and leverage despite his small stature. Tice was convinced that he, along with his Bills teammate Pat Williams, could be the cornerstones to reshaping the Vikings defense. As it turns out it was one of the three things Mike Tice as right about. Vikings fans were fortunate he squeezed into his best 3XL sweater vest and made a convincing pitch to Winfield, because his consistency and excellence over the next eight seasons elevated the Vikings to levels they could not possibly hope to have achieved otherwise.
Before Winfield the Vikings were 23rd against the pass in yards per attempt. They created turnovers, but they also gave up too many long plays. By Winfield’s 3rd year they had improved to 12th against the pass in yards per attempt but more importantly he was fundamental in helping forge one of the most stout run defenses in NFL history.
2006 was the gold standard for rushing defense when Minnesota Gave up only 985 yards on the ground, holding opponents to an unbelievable 2.8 yards per attempt.
While the Williams wall of Kevin and Pat Williams justly get much of the credit, Winfields role as one of the game’s best modern run support corners is vastly underrated. No corner in the last ten years could read, diagnose and react to run plays as quickly as Winfield. He could break from coverage into run support with ease, weaving through would-be blockers and shedding men twice his size on his way to punish offending runners.
Pat and Kevin Williams shut down the inside and Antoine Winfield helped shut down the outside. With Winfield prowling the secondary there was nowhere to run.
As Minnesota fully embraced the Tampa 2, Winfield developed into one of the game’s best zone corners. He played his position with unique leverage, redirecting much larger receivers outside with ease and releasing them expertly at just the right moment. He flowed to the ball without hesitation and made plays, created turnovers and disrupted patterns.
His numbers with the Vikings are staggering. In 119 games over 9 seasons he compiled 729 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 21 interceptions, 62 passes defensed, forced 14 fumbles and recovered 9. He scored 4 defensive TDs (2 on INT returns, 2 on fumble returns) and added a blocked kick returned for a TD for good measure.
As the years wore on rather than slowing down Winfield exhibited superior conditioning and not only held on, he continued to anchor the secondary in a way we haven’t seen a corner of his age do since Darrel Green. Over the past 5 years he’s graded out as the NFL’s best corner by PFF grade 3 times (2012, 2010, 2008) and despite Minnesota’s promise to limit his snaps this season he played 1,106 snaps this season, throwing his body into run defense 410 times and tossing his body into the passer 15 times.
He did all of this without complaint and again served only as an example of excellence for everyone on the field and within the organization. His loss will be felt throughout the franchise for years to come.
As Winfield’s arrival transformed the defense for the better his departure will in the same way transform it for the worse. The way the front office mismanaged Winfield’s release and left him feeling insulted hastened his departure from the franchise and likely made a return impossible. It’s a sad and disappointing end to the career of one of the greatest contemporary Vikings and one of the most unique and special corners we’ve seen play the game.
Thank you for everything, Antoine.
The 2013 Twins Staff after 10 Games
The 2013 season for the Twins started with surprising promise (in the mind of Sid Hartman), but after a 4-2 start comprised of two straight series wins over Detroit and Baltimore the inevitable correction seems to be at hand.
The Twins found themselves unable to handle the pressure of swelling crowds at Kaufman and fell three straight times to the mighty Royals before returning to the friendly confines of Target field for a shellacking at the hands of the Mets 16-5.
Starter Vance Worley, who Terry Ryan is depending on to hold the staff together in the short term, looked shaky early surrendering 3 straight hits and walk to start the game. While Gardenhire would certainly claim he battled, the net result was that New York had plated five runs before he finally headed to the dugout.
Ultimately nine men he was responsible for scored in just 1IP, launching his ERA into Scott Klingenbeck territory (10.50) and sealing the Twins fate before the second inning had closed.
Twins Starting Pitching Through 10 Games
The 7 earned runs Worley surrendered raised the staff ERA for starting pitchers to 6.14, behind only the Blue Jays (7.55) in all of baseball. That crooked ERA completed a set of truly horrific pitching numbers overall for Minnesota’s staff:
| Stat | IP/G | Contact% | SwStr | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | LOB% | Opp OPS | WHIP | ERA | SIERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VALUE | 4.83 | 89.60% | 4.80% | 3.54 | 2.23 | 1.58 | 55.60% | .794 | 1.68 | 6.14 | 4.7 |
| RANK | 29th | 30th | 30th | 30th | 6th | 25th | 30th | 29th | 28th | 29th | 25th |
Most of these numbers look fairly horrific, but what do they mean?
IP/G
Twins starters are not going deep into games and are putting serious pressure on an undermanned pen to pitch heavy innings early. If this continues expect Gardenhire to begin his yearly April push to carry an extra reliever.
CONTACT% / SWSTR
Opposing hitters are only swinging and missing at Twins starters pitches 4.8% of the time. They’re making contact with their pitches nearly 9 out of 10 times and are putting those balls into play frequently for extra bases.
So far none of the Twins starters have proven deceptive with spot starter Pedro Hernandez sporting the best K/9 on the team with a pedestrian 5.40. In fact the whole staff looks pretty horrible when it comes to King opposing batters:
Pedro Hernandez 5.40 K/9
Liam Hendriks 4.66 K/9
Vance Worley 4.50 K/9
Mike Pelfrey 2.45 K/9
Kevin Correia 1.88 K/9
In technical parlance we call that an abortion.
K/9, BB/9, K/BB, LOB%
Finally a little good news. The Twins aren’t walking very many hitters! Of course, with how few hitters they’re striking out and how often hitters are making contact it doesn’t really matter. Even with that low walk rate Twins starters are giving up a .368 on base percentage to opposing hitters (29th, MLB).
Once those men get on base they rarely head anywhere but home as Twins starters sport the worst strand rate in all of baseball. A remarkable achievement considering their generally decent ground ball rate (51.1%, 4th MLB).
Everything Else
Twins starters aren’t getting deep into games, aren’t keeping runners off base, aren’t able to get them off base one they get there and aren’t able to keep their teams in games. The Twins were among the league’s worst rotations in 2012 and look to have the makings of the league’s worst in 2013 again if major unforeseen changes aren’t made.
The shine is already off Worley, Pelfrey and Hendriks and the next candidate for explosion should be Kevin Correia.
So far Correia has thrown 14.1 IP and has given up 15 H, 5 R and has struck out only 3 hitters. The 5 runs allowed is a good if unsustainable result, but the 3 Ks is part of a continued decline for Correia that has seen him as one of the worst K/9 pitchers in baseball for the last 2 years.
With his 3Ks in 2 games this season that drops Correia’s K/9 in his last 30 games to just 3.9. In order for him to remain an effective pitcher he’ll have to be an extreme ground ball pitcher despite lacking a dominant pitch to induce ground balls with. He did generate ground balls 51.2% of the time last season, but that was dramatically higher than his career average of 44.3%. His significant 20 point drop in BABIP also seems to indicate he may be due for a correction in 2013, something a shift to the American League can’t possibly help.
Velocity Notes
According to Pitch/FX here are your Twins leaders among starters by average FB velocity:
91.3MPH Mike Pelfrey
90.1MPH Liam Hendriks
89.9MPH Kevin Correia
89.2MPH Vance Worley
89.1MPH Pedro Hernandez
And here are your leaders among revilers for FB velocity:
93.9MPH Glen Perkins
91.8MPH Ryan Pressly
91.6MPH Josh Roenicke
91.5MPH Brian Duensing
91.0MPH Jared Burtn
90.6MPH Casey Fien
88.1MPH Pedro Hernandez
84.9MPH Tyler Robertson
No word on how many hops Robertson’s change takes to the plate.