The 1st annual APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge is near its end. By now, the ballot entry form is closed and we are waiting for the APBA Company to release the 2018 season for APBA GO so we can find out the correct grades for each of the twenty pitchers I selected for the Challenge.
Very soon, I will release the results of the Pitching Grade Challenge (not to mention the grades of the pitchers involved in the Challenge). Before I do, I think it is only fair that I share my Challenge ballot. As I mentioned from the start, I am exempting myself from the contest as a prize-winner but I still wanted to take the Challenge. I will even further humble myself by releasing my grade guesses before APBA makes them public.
Of note: I took the Challenge when it was first opened. Also, I wrote this article before I knew the grades of the pitchers.
My guesses are below for what they are worth. But first, a few notes on a couple pitchers:
I admit that a couple of my guesses were partial wishful thinking on my part. Some of these pitchers are on my league team and I did not feel right picking right choosing the lower grade. Therefore, I picked an A for Kyle Freeland (17-7, 2.85 ERA) and a C for Brent Suter (8-7, 4.44 ERA).
That said, I just happened to notice that I did not pick any pitchers to be a D. People have accused me of being an eternal optimist so maybe they are correct. Jon Gray’s 5.12 ERA didn’t deter me from giving him a C; I think his 12 wins will help him. James Shields doesn’t have 12 wins with a 7-16 record but with a 4.53 ERA in the American League, he might eke by with a C grade. Playing for the White Sox won’t help his cause but being one of only 13 MLB pitchers who logged 200 innings in 2018 might.
Besides Freeland, Miles Mikolas (18-4, 2.85 ERA) was the only other A grade I guessed. In hindsight, Corey Kluber with a similar 2.89 ERA and a superior win total (20-7) probably deserved it too.
Cole Hamels (9-12, 3.78 ERA) was an interesting case. While he will get a card with the Cubs, he was the only pitcher in the Challenge that played for multiple teams. When this kind of thing happened in the past, APBA would only consider the stats for the last team the pitcher played (see 1984 Rick Sutcliffe). If that were the case, Hamels’ Chicago stats (4-3, 2.36 ERA in 12 starts) might warrant him an A grade. I don’t think APBA is sticking to this as much in the more recent past though so Cole gets a C from me.
So here is my entire ballot entry. Again, so there is no confusion, this my ballot with my guesses and NOT APBA’s final 2018 pitching grades for the 2018 cards.
| Pitcher | Tm | W | L | ERA | IP | Tom’s guess |
| Chase Anderson | MIL | 9 | 8 | 3.93 | 158 | C |
| Shane Bieber | CLE | 11 | 5 | 4.55 | 114 2/3 | C |
| Madison Bumgarner | SFG | 6 | 7 | 3.26 | 129 2/3 | B |
| Mike Foltynewicz | ATL | 13 | 10 | 2.85 | 183 | B |
| Kyle Freeland | COL | 17 | 7 | 2.85 | 202 1/3 | A |
| Kyle Gibson | MIN | 10 | 13 | 3.62 | 196 2/3 | B |
| Zack Godley | ARI | 15 | 11 | 4.74 | 178 1/3 | C |
| Marco Gonzales | SEA | 13 | 9 | 4.00 | 166 2/3 | C |
| Jon Gray | COL | 12 | 9 | 5.12 | 172 1/3 | C |
| Cole Hamels | TOT | 9 | 12 | 3.78 | 190 2/3 | C |
| Dallas Keuchel | HOU | 12 | 11 | 3.74 | 204 2/3 | B |
| Corey Kluber | CLE | 20 | 7 | 2.89 | 215 | B |
| Steven Matz | NYM | 5 | 11 | 3.97 | 154 | C |
| Miles Mikolas | STL | 18 | 4 | 2.83 | 200 2/3 | A |
| Sean Newcomb | ATL | 12 | 9 | 3.90 | 164 | C |
| Jake Odorizzi | MIN | 7 | 10 | 4.49 | 164 1/3 | C |
| Luis Severino | NYY | 19 | 8 | 3.39 | 191 1/3 | B |
| James Shields | CHW | 7 | 16 | 4.53 | 204 2/3 | C |
| Brent Suter | MIL | 8 | 7 | 4.44 | 101 1/3 | C |
| Vince Velasquez | PHI | 9 | 12 | 4.85 | 146 2/3 | C |
Coming very soon… the results of the 2018 1st annual APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge!
