That’s something that I could take a look at in the future if you’d like. But, I think Duke’s reasons for getting drubbed are a little more straightforward: he doesn’t miss any bats, and he toils behind one of the worst defensive teams in the majors. When you combine a pitcher who puts the ball in play frequently with a defense that has serious problems converting those balls into outs, you have a recipe for disaster.

Duke’s BABIP’s over the past two seasons? .360 and .327. He exhibits solid control and generates some grounders, but his skill set is completely ill-suited to the quality of the defense behind him. Peter covered both Duke and Snell a little while back, noting how their defense let them down:

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/zach-duke-and-ian-snell-buried-treasure/

If Duke were behind a quality defensive team, he could probably be a league-average starter. Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh’s 1st or 2nd ranked prospect (depending on how big of a Pedro Alvarez fan you are), should help matters. Despite the curious Gold Glove hardware, most defensive systems ranked Nate McLouth as one of the worst CF’s in the game. If McCutchen is inserted in center and McLouth moves to right, that should improve things somewhat.