Wise Kraken 44.2032: Pitching Staff Coming Together

[aaronweiner]

Don't look now, but the Carolina Kraken's pitching staff is starting to come together as a cohesive unit. While the Kraken's solid team defense has to take some of the credit, Carolina is near the top of the league in several key pitching metrics, and it's perhaps the first and surest sign that the Kraken rebuilding effort might be starting to work. At the end of the last sim, Carolina's staff was in fifth place in the JL in runs allowed per game and sixth in team ERA.

In a fourteen-team league, fifth and sixth place don't sound like much, but for Carolina, it's a quantum leap forward. The Kraken have finished below .500 in each of the past four seasons, and during that time, their highest finish was sixth in runs allowed - and that was because of a superb 17-9, 2.36 ERA season by departed ace Billy Chapel, Jr. The Kraken don't have an obvious ace on their staff, but they've mostly been doing the job as a unit.

"We're coming together as a team," said Kraken de facto ace Juan Perez. "I don't think you can point to any one guy and say that he's the reason we're finding success."

The Kraken still have their top starters on a tight leash, as players like Perez and Dempster aren't allowed to go past 100 pitches, no matter how they're doing. An example: Andre Georges was pulled from a shutout last week with a 20-0 lead having allowed three hits in 7 innings because the rookie hit 95 pitches, and at 95 pitches, he was done.

"The first thing that matters to us is whether or not our guys are healthy and productive and on the field," said pitching coach Ed Eldridge. "They want the same thing. We know that they could go deeper into games, and as they age we'll let them do that, but for now they're still developing and need the restrictions."

However, the bullpen has picked up the starting unit remarkably well. In fact, the bullpen failed to surrender even a single run last week for the Kraken, a remarkable feat led by the excellent rookie season of Marcio Idanha, who has been excellent this year.

"I have had very good defense, but I also don't walk any batters," said Idanha, whose 23/9 K/BB ratio is one of the best on the team. "I know walks are people who can score and I don't want that."

Overall, the pitching staff has some very impressive metrics: fourth in walks allowed, fourth in lowest batting average, second in WHIP, sixth in K/BB ratio, third in hits allowed. In fact, the only thing holding back the Kraken pitching staff is their twelfth-place in home runs allowed, with 62 homers allowed in 38 games, an absurd 1.63 homers allowed per game.

"We have a ballpark design that just might fix that problem," insinuated Kraken GM Aaron Weiner. "Not going to say anything else yet."

Bottom line: the Kraken pitching staff has definitely improved dramatically, and they have a serious chance to begin finishing in the top half of the JL as soon as their top prospects are ready.