2009 disk in: A look at the starting pitchers

The emailed “disk” is making its way into people’s inboxes.  By now, we know the official pitching grades and with a little extrapolation, the hitting numbers of the 2009 set. 

The big story among pitchers is the re-appearance of split grades.  And I mean SPLIT grades.  Phil Hughes is rated a 3 (24*) or a D (A&C*).  That’s a 21 point difference, something I don’t think we’ve seen for a while. 

Even Chan Ho Park managed a 1 (16*).

Park’s ERA for 2009 was 4.43 so I had to look up his splits.  Sure enough, his ERA as a starter in 7 starts was 7.29.  His ERA in 38 relief appearances was 2.52.  In my opinion, the split grade he was given fits.

Here are the A starters for the 2009 set:

Greinke 18 XYZ
Hernandez 18 X
Carpenter 18 YZ
Lincecum 17 XY
Jurrjens 15 Y
Wainwright 15 XZ

With thanks to JDRushton from the APBA Between the Lines forum, who complied this list, I’m posting the starting pitchers’ grades (indexed by grade):

18 – C. Carpenter, Greinke, F. Hernandez

17 – Lincecum

15 – Jurrjens, Wainwright

14 – Cain, Halladay, Kershaw

13 – Hanson, Happ, Lester, W. Rodriguez, Sabathia, Vazquez. Verlander

12 – Haren, E. Jackson, U. Jimenez, Jo. Johnson, C. Lee, J. Santana, Jer. Weaver

11 – Beckett, Bedard, Lilly, Millwood, Nieve, Peavy, Pineiro, R. Wells, Wolf

10 – Bergesen, Danks, Dempster, Gallardo, Niemann

9 – Buehrle, Burnett, Feldman, Haeger, Lackey, Outman, Porcello, Rzepczynski, Washburn

8 – Arroyo, Correia, Duensing, Garza, D. Hudson, Lannan, P. Martinez, Ohlendorf, Pettitte, Richard, Rowland-Smith, Stauffer, Zambrano

7 – Blackburn, Blanton, Boggs, Braden, Chamberlain, D. Davis, W. Davis, De La Rosa, T. Hudson, Kuroda, Laffey, LeBlanc, Maine, Marquis, Padilla, Price, Ramos, Romero, J. Sanchez, Saunders, Slowey, Tomko, Volquez, Wakefield

6 – B. Anderson, H. Bailey, Baker, Billingsley, C. Buchholz, Cook, Davies, Duke, Floyd, Gaudin, Harden, Hunter, Kawakami, Latos, Lerew, Looper, Matusz, Norris, Sadowski, A. Sanchez, Scherzer, Shields, Snell, Stults, Zito

5 – Adenhart (RIP), Cahill, Cecil, Cueto, Garland, G. Gonzalez, Hamels, Hammel, Huff, R. Johnson, Kazmir, Lehr, Lowe, Martin, Martis, McCarthy, A. Miller, Milton, Morton, Moyer, Niese, Nolasco, Oswalt, Owings, Pavano, Penny, E. Santana, West, C. Young, Zimmermann

4 – Bannister, Bonine, Colon, Escobar, Figueroa, Fister, French, F. Garcia, Guthrie, Hampton, Harang, Hart, L. Hernandez, Lohse, R. Lopez, Maholm, Maloney, Mazzaro, McCutchen, Meche, Misch, Moseley, Myers, R. Ortiz, Parra, Pelfrey, B. Ray, Redding, Schmidt, Sowers, Stammen, Tallet, Uehara, VandenHurk, J. Vargas, Volstad

3 – Bucker, Burns, Bush, Byrd, D. Cabrera, Carmona, Contreras, Detwiler, Figaro, Galarraga, Gallagher, Harrison, D. Hernandez, S. Hill, Holland, Liriano, Matsuzaka, Mock, Moehler, O’Sullivan, Perkins, Purcey, Richmond, Rogers, Suppan, Tillman, Torres, V. Vasquez, Wellemeyer,

2 – Balester, Banks, Bastardo, Berken, Eveland, Geer, Hochevar, Manship, Mitre, Olsen, Paulino, O. Perez, Petit, H. Ramirez, A. Reyes, J. Reyes, Smoltz, Sonnanstine, Swarzak, Waters

1 – Augenstein, Backe, Bazardo, T. Bell, Benson, Bonderman, Bowden, Burrez, A. Carpenter, C. Carrasco, Carillo, DiNardo, Eaton, Gabino, R. Hill, Z. Jackson, Koronka, S. Lewis, Litsch, W. Lopez, J. Martinez, Mills, Mortensen, Mulvey, Ortega, Penn, Ponson, Reineke, Samardzija, C. Silva, W. Silva, Simon, Taylor, Tazawa, Walters, Wang, B. Webb, Willis

Most of you are aware of the APBA Between the Lines forum where you can get a lot of great APBA info (including info on the new cards).  If not, get your butt over there and browse around.