Comments on: Can Jair Jurrjens Avoid Sophomore Slump?

By: kevin helfer

kevin helfer — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:53:00 +0000

If you watched a lot of his games, you will notice he is a very intelligent pitcher as well. I don’t have the stats to quantify it, but if they are out there I’ll bet you would notice that he pitches around batters that can hurt him. He just won’t give in. If they beat him it will be on his pitch and his terms. Love his make up!
He priojects just as you say. A solid #2 for a long time.

By: David R

David R — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:26:36 +0000

What is everyone’s thoughts on Jair now after posting a great sub-3 ERA? I think we all know he probably won’t do that again but has Jair Jurrjens began to establish himself as someone who can post consistent mid-3 ERAs and become sort of a Super-2 pitcher? I doubt he’ll ever be a # 1 but I think the Braves have an EXTREMELY valuable player in Jair.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:46:22 +0000

Makes sense.

My greater concern is with the huge change in his GB / FB ratio, which seems drastic for a pitcher that relied so heavily on GB outs last year. Is there a good reason behind this? And should it worry us at all as far as his performance in the immediate future goes?

By: Brian Joura

Brian Joura — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:01:33 +0000

FB are good for a pitcher’s BABIP so I don’t think that makes Jurrjens’ BABIP (which is on the low end of normal anyway) unsustainable.

The problem with FB is that the ones that do go for hits go for extra bases.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:57:41 +0000

So Brian,

I’ve been checking out Jurrjens. Nearly all his numbers look the same with the exception of his pitch selection (more sliders, less changes, same % of fastballs), but his GB/FB rate was nearly cut in half!!! With all his other peripherals looking basically the same, I can’t understand why his GB rate decreased so much and his FB increased so much? Is his 292 BABIP unsustainable as a result of this change?