With this latest edition of JustSON the Numbers I decided to give the Cincinnati Reds some love and focus on their young starting pitcher Johnny Cueto.Cueto entered last season with a lot of hype but was outshone by fellow young gun Edinson Volquez who came to the Reds in the Josh Hamilton trade. Volquez had a great season going 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA, 206 strikeouts and a trip to the All-Star game.
The 2008 season had it's share of ups and downs for the then 22 year old Cueto from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. September was a really tough month for Cueto, he went 1-2 with a 6.16 ERA in only 19 innings pitched. On the year he ended up with a 9-14 record and a 4.81 ERA with 158 strikeouts.
So far this season Cueto is showing off the talent that had everyone excited last season. The lone exception to this was Cueto's first start of this season at home against Pittsburgh when he gave up 8 hits and 4 runs over 6 innings while taking the loss. Since then he has been on fire only giving up 2 earned runs, 17 hits and 8 walks over his last 26 2/3 innings pitched. That's good enough for a 0.69 ERA over his last 4 starts (FYI if you ever wanted to calculate and ERA you can do so by dividing the pitchers earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched then multiplying that by 9, I'm a nerd, I've been told).
Last year it seemed Cueto tried to strike everybody out and when his control wasn't there it lead to a lot of walks (68 in 174 innings pitched), which is natural for a young pitcher. On another note his batting average is up to .200 this season after batting just .044 last year.
You can see Cueto (2-1, 1.65 ERA) and the rest of Reds face the St. Louis Cardinals for the first time this year, tomorrow at 7:10 pm eastern time.
On a side note I'm going to be trying to post a JustSON the Numbers article every day during the week. If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.
This is a great write and better read Jeff! I think that a numbers break down on a game or sport is most interesting with a team losing in a game of soccer that should have won. A team could have 20 shots on goal and hold possession 70% of the game and still lose one to nil, to the team that has just one shot on goal (the one that counts) and only hold 30% possession.
ReplyDeleteThe Seattle Sounders FC are in second to Chivas USA at having the fewest goals against and goals for. It would be interesting to see the numbers on these two top MLS teams in shots on goal; saves and possession time – I think the Sounders FC would come out ahead in these areas.
I vote for your next post to be on our Sounders FC vs. Chivas USA by the numbers!