RANK PLAYER TEAM BABIP 1 Roger Clemens HOU 0.235 2 Barry Zito OAK 0.237 3 Pedro Martinez NYN 0.242 4 Rich Harden OAK 0.255 5 Joe Blanton OAK 0.256 6 Carlos Zambrano CHN 0.257 7 Jose Contreras CHA 0.261 8 Tony Armas Jr. WAS 0.263 9 Roy Halladay TOR 0.264 10 Bruce Chen BAL 0.265Of interest:
- Roger Clemens leads the league in BABIP allowed and is the only Houston pitcher on the list. From a man whose career BABIP allowed is around .286, you have to wonder how much of this season for him has just been luck. It's a great season either way (his DIPS ERA is under 3), but it's at least worth bringing up.
- With 3 Oakland pitchers on the list, either Oakland pitchers have all been very lucky (doubtful) or they've had extraordinary defensive work done behind them (more likely). If those 3 pitchers had given up BABIPs of .300, the A's would have lost 69 outs. Imagine what kind of runs those 69 outs could have been used to create. (Estimate on my part was 12.5 - 13, but I could be wrong.)
- Considering Pedro Martinez's BABIP of .242, it's almost a shock that he's allowed an ERA as high as 2.90, considering his peripherals. But consider this:
Pedro Martinez, Bases Empty: .182/.236/.325
Pedro Martinez, RISP: .221/.238/.374
This could be the source, even though the difference is a bit less than I imagined.