Jiminez - Regression or Meltdown?

[rayfan4life]

What the hell has happened to this guy? In his last 6 outings he's given up 4 ERs or more 5 times. He's pitched 33 innings, given up 26 ERs (7.09 ERA), and has a K:BB ratio worse than 2:1. Anyone got any insight, or is this what we should expect the rest of the way?

Today's gem - 2 innings, 3 hits, 5 BBs, 4 ERs, 2 Ks. Not good.

[rayfan4life]

My mistake on Jiminez's final line today. I said 5 BBs and 4 ER. It was actually 6 BBs and 6 ER.

[heyeaglefn]

He is not as good as he was pitching at the beginning of the season, and is not as bad as he has been pitching in the past 6 or so starts. Somewhere in the middle.

[rayfan4life]

He is not as good as he was pitching at the beginning of the season, and is not as bad as he has been pitching in the past 6 or so starts. Somewhere in the middle.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but man, this is a DRAMATIC drop-off, and it's a pretty decent sample size. Check out these splits:

First 14 starts:

101.1 IP (7 per start) 1.16 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 5.79 H/9, 3.2 BB/9, 7.83 K/9

Last 6 starts:

33 IP (5.5 per start) 7.64 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 8.45 H/9, 5.18 BB/9, 8.73 K/9

I understand there was going to be a regression, but this drop is so steep, I almost wonder if there is a mechanical flaw or he's tipping his pitches or something.

He was pitching above his head, but everyone EXPECTED him to be dominant this year. He has the stuff to pitch the way he did in the first 14 starts, just like Greinke last year. Greinke never experienced an implosion anything like this, and I don't know that anyone has ever started this well and fallen off this much.