What kind of groudball:flyball ratio is good? Obviously pitchers with flyball tendencies would seem to give up more HR's I'd imagine. At the same time, wouldn't a groundball tendency pitcher have to have a quality infield in order to be effective/consistant? Anything anyone can contribute would be great.
More groundballs is better b/c the home run kills. That being said, groundball pitchers definitely need good D's. Derek Lowe for instance, with the Red Sox, had a terrible time b/c the Sox had a mediocre infield defense. Go to LA, have a year w/ Furcal and those guys...pretty nice.
Brandon Webb, now that he has Orlando Hudson behind him at second, is a better pitcher than he was a few years ago (obviously he's done other stuff to improve as well, such as cutting down on walks).
Great link, thanks a lot... just want another way of analyzing pitchers to possibly find another gem. Usually I look for high k rates with low whips and if possible low HR rates... now I have something else to look at. Thanks a lot.
Depends on a number of factors, including the ballpark. Contrary to popular belief, it's not always better to be a groundball pitcher. A pitcher who plays in a spacious ballpark, like in Los Angeles or Washington is probably better served by letting up fly balls. Groundballs will become hits more often in such a case. Flyballs will stay in the park.
Also, you also have to consider whether a pitcher walks a lot of batters. If so, groundballs are probably better because they induce double-plays. If a pitcher has a great strikeout-to-walk ratio, however, flyballs could be the next-to-optimal result of a pitch.
Johan Santana isn't exactly a ground-ball pitcher, but he has a great strikeout-to-walk rate and plays in a fantastic ballpark for flyballs.
In general, groundball pitchers are better for fantasy purposes. (So long as they have a healthy strikeout rate.) Not because they let up fewer hits, but rather because they let up fewer home runs. Less home runs means less disaster and damage to your ERA.
It works out differently for every pitcher. For example, guy like Rich Hill will give up more flyballs than the average pitcher but LD% is also below average so he'll always give up less hits on balls in play. I don't think GB:FB ratio is a good number to use in evaluating pitchers. Line drives are just as important. So even if a pitcher is a flyball pitcher, which is a bad thing, you need to take in all the numbers before making a conclusion. Like in Rich Hill's case, it's not as bad as it seems.
Not something you really need to care about. The only pitcher that comes to mind that really depends on ground balls is Roy Holliday who doesn't quite have the K rate other "elite" pitchers do. I don't think it was a coincidence that his numbers dipped a bit last year with no Orlando Hudson and with the defensive liability Russ Adams playing alot. For the same reason his numbers should improve some this year with an improved defensive infield this year.
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