The ballot for the 2nd Annual APBA Blog Pitching Grade is now closed! There was a lot of response this year and once the APBA Game Company releases the APBA GO 2019 set, we will know the winner of this year’s Challenge.
A couple days ago, I took the Challenge myself. I’m not eligible to win but I thought I’d post my ballot. As I recall, I scored 70% on last year’s ballot so I don’t embarrass myself when it comes to rating the pitchers.
It’s a different season though and while some pitchers were no-brainers (*cough* Senzatela), I found myself stumped on quite a few. I guess I picked these pitchers for a reason!
The two that stood out for me were Mike Clevinger and Frankie Montas. I immediately clicked the “B” for Clevinger and when it came to Montas, I hovered over the “A”.
Looking at the key stats, they have similar stats other than Montas’ lack of playing time. Clevinger’s 2.71 ERA was slightly higher than Montas’ 2.68 and the winning percentages (Clevinger’s 13-4 to Montas’ 9-2) were comparable.
I stuck with Montas’ “A” grade and we’ll see what happens.
There were also a few pitchers with many wins but slightly higher ERAs (German, Rodriguez etc.). Who knows? APBA may decide to lower the limit required to raise the pitching grade.
Just to clarify, these are my guesses only and not APBA’s official grades for the 2019 season.
| Pitcher | Tm | W | L | ERA | IP | Tom’s Guess |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jose Berrios | MIN | 14 | 8 | 3.68 | 200 1/3 | B |
| Madison Bumgarner | SFG | 9 | 9 | 3.90 | 207 2/3 | C |
| Mike Clevinger | CLE | 13 | 4 | 2.71 | 126 | B |
| Zach Davies | MIL | 10 | 7 | 3.55 | 159 2/3 | B |
| Max Fried | ATL | 17 | 6 | 4.02 | 165 2/3 | C |
| Domingo German | NYY | 18 | 4 | 4.03 | 143 | C |
| Marco Gonzales | SEA | 16 | 13 | 3.99 | 203 | C |
| Cole Hamels | CHC | 7 | 7 | 3.81 | 141 2/3 | C |
| J.A. Happ | NYY | 12 | 8 | 4.91 | 161 1/3 | C |
| Dinelson Lamet | SDP | 3 | 5 | 4.07 | 73 | C |
| Kenta Maeda | LAD | 10 | 8 | 4.04 | 153 2/3 | C |
| German Marquez | COL | 12 | 5 | 4.76 | 174 | C |
| Frankie Montas | OAK | 9 | 2 | 2.63 | 96 | A |
| Robbie Ray | ARI | 12 | 8 | 4.34 | 174 1/3 | C |
| Eduardo Rodriguez | BOS | 19 | 6 | 3.81 | 203 1/3 | B |
| Antonio Senzatela | COL | 11 | 11 | 6.71 | 124 2/3 | D |
| Mike Soroka | ATL | 13 | 4 | 2.68 | 174 2/3 | B |
| Marcus Stroman | NYM | 10 | 13 | 3.22 | 184 1/3 | B |
| Julio Teheran | ATL | 10 | 11 | 3.81 | 174 2/3 | C |
| Zack Wheeler | NYM | 11 | 8 | 3.96 | 195 1/3 | C |
Once I get the grades of these pitchers from the Company, I will tabulate the results. Stay tuned for the official ballot results and winner of the 2nd Annual APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge!
Nice list! Biggest surprise to me is Soroka. Looks like he’s got the ERA and more than enough innings to earn an A. Comparing him favorably above to your ratings guess for Davies — more IP and ERA of nearly 1 run less. If Davies deserves a B, Soroka seems to be lock for an A. And pitching for a playoff team might push him over the top if he’s a true tweener.