Scouting Roy Halladay again

Roy Halladay
33 years old (34 in May)
14th major league season
Bats R/Throws R

Roy Halladay = Very, very good.
The End.

You want more of a scouting report than that? Ok, ok. I'll let you know why he will be earning 20 million dollars a year for the next two years. He's a 7 time all-star, including 5 of the last 6 years, and won the Cy Young award last year, his second of his career.

He is a workhorse, pitching over 220 innings each of the last five years, including 250 innings last year. He strikes out > 7.5 K/9, and walks < 1.5 W/9, for a K/W ratio over 5 the past three years, one of the best in the major leagues  He doesn't allow home runs (< 1 HR/9), and his highest WHIP since 2005 was 1.24 (1.04 in 2010). He is a ground-ball pitcher and attacks the hitters with strikes, making it difficult to run up his pitch count. Easily leads baseball in complete games over the past 6 years, having 9 complete games each of the past 3 years.

His stuff: nasty. Throws 90-92 mph fastball, a filthy 90 mph cutter, a plus curve-ball that he throws around 78 mph, and added a plus split-finger/change-up last year which he threw 11.5% (84 mph). He uses his fastball or cutter 70% of the time, and the curve or change the remaining 30%. He's increased the use of his split/change from 4 in 2009 to 14% in 2011. All four of his pitches were plus last year, and again this year in the small sample size. He will throw any pitch with two strikes. Yes, he's that good.

This year Roy is 3-1 in 5 starts, 2.41 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, with 9.4 K/9, and 1.45 BB/9. WOW. He's thrown 112+ pitches each of his last 4 starts, including 1 complete game and 8 2/3 innings last game. He's also throwing his cutter 47% of the time, which is attributed to his high K/9 rate, and has a swing and miss % of 10.5, which would be a career high (crazy for a 14 year veteran).

For his career, he's 7-2 against the Mets in 9 starts, but he was 4-0 in his 4 starts in 2010 (2.56 ERA, 0.821 WHIP, including only 2 walks, and 28 Ks). And he beat them on April 7, going 7 innings and 0 earned runs (6 hits, 1 walk, 7 ks).

Sit back and watch gentlemen, because we are watching a Hall Of Famer, who has been at his peak the past few years and is a treat to watch.