Four teams make their 2018 debuts on Friday after rain postponed their scheduled opening day. The Pirates take on the Tigers in the interleague match-up, Ivan Nova battling Jordan Zimmermann. Nova posted a great walk rate since joining the Pirates, 1.4 batters per nine innings. He needs that, as his low strikeout rate leads to a high number of hits. The Nationals appear to have let Zimmermann go at the right time. He owned a 3.32 ERA in his year in Washington, a 5.60 ERA since joining the Tigers.
Max Scherzer takes on Homer Bailey as the Nationals open at the Reds. Since joining the Nationals in 2015, Scherzer sits atop the major league strikeout leader board, a hair in front of Chris Sale. Note that the top three in the list also walk very few batters. Bailey is coming off is first winter in years without surgery or rehabilitation. He will play 2018 as a 32-year-old, so it would be unwise to expect him to return to peak performance. He only walked three in 18 spring innings, but he did allow 26 hits and seven home runs.
Finally, the Dodgers and Giants contine their series with Johnny Cueto taking on Alex Wood. Cueto’s 2017 ERA came in at 4.52, the first time since 2009 that he was over 4.00 for a season. Wood reduced his ERA 1.00 run from 2016, thanks to a much lower walk rate.
Enjoy!
from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2GCO9FD
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