Tyler Chatwood, Chicago Cubs
The only thing you really need to know about Tyler Chatwood is that just about anyone can draw a walk against him. How else can you explain a 17.5% strikeout rate and 19.6% walk rate through 103.2 innings?
Chicago pounced on him this past offseason in the free agent market, which looked like a smart move based on his home/road splits as a member of the Colorado Rockies, but things just haven’t panned out. Among pitchers with 100 innings of work, Chatwood owns the worst walk rate and the highest SIERA (6.28). It’s not particularly close, either.
What’s the biggest issue with his command? It seems as if the righty’s fastball is causing all kinds of problems. Opposing hitters have posted a 172 wRC+ against it, but just a .377 slugging percentage. Virtually all of the offensive value comes from the astronomical .539 on-base percentage, which has been boosted up by an equally astronomical 33.3% walk rate.
About Matt Musico
Matt currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book about how to become a sports blogger. You can sign up for his email newsletter here.
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