Long Live Shea Stadium: Scouting Report Mike Pelfrey 2011

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Scouting Report Mike Pelfrey 2011

Mike Pelfrey- #34

27 years old
6th Major League Season
6'7" 230 pounds
Bats R/Throws R

To check out his 2010 scouting report, click here

The Good: Throws a sinking 91-93 MPH fastball, which he can dial it up to 96 MPH (averaged 92 mph last year, lowest of his career). Lead the team in starts and innings in 2009 and 2010, and pitched over 200 innings for the 2nd time in his career in 2010. He added a split-finger to act as a change-up last year, and posted his career best ERA, 3.66. Is known as a ground-ball pitcher, but only slightly. He's had less BB/9 than league average the past 3 years (3.0BB/9 in 2010)

Big Pelf isn't so big anymore with C Young around

The Bad: The biggest knock against "Big Pelf" is that he can't strike hitters out, and last year was no exception. His K/9 rate was below 5, and his career average is 5.1K/9. He simply doesn't have the ability to miss bats, and hitters only swung and miss 6% of the time last year; as a reference, league average was 8.5%. Still throws his fastball a lot (69%), because his slider is still a below-average major league pitch, and even though he added and threw his split finger last year (14% of the time), it wasn't a league average pitch. He started to throw a curve-ball a little more last year (5.5%) and that was a decent pitch for him. He also has big home/road splits, with a 2.82 ERA at Citi Field, but a 4.95 ERA on the road, and he allowed twice the number of HRs in 44 fewer innings while averaging less than 6 innings per start on the road.

Role: Opening Day Starter, but only in the sense he is starting on April 1st. He would be a #3 or 4 starter on a playoff team, but he gets the distinction because of the lack of Mets starting pitching depth. His most comparable player was Bobby Jones in 1996, and others on his top 10 included: Scott Erickson 1994, and Joe Blanton 2007. All serviceable major league pitchers, but no "opening day starters."