Until last night, I have completely ignored the start by Zack Grienke because I don't own him in any league and I was praying he would go away. Donald Zachary Grienke RHP is 25 years old and was born in Orlando, Fl. He is listed at 6'2 185 lbs and was selected 6th overall by KC in the 2002 amateur draft Since Pundits are comparing him to Bob Gibson, I decided to watch his start last night and my conclusion is that this kid is for real. The hits that he did give up were broken bats and bloops singles and he was always ahead in the count which had the Sox completely guessing. The complete Pitch F/X data for his start last night can be seen here. Grienke is a fastball-slider pitcher and he has amazing command of both pitches and he mixes in a curve/change-up to make it interesting. His FB is clocked at 94-97 MPH and his slider is his out pitch. During his start last night he threw his slider for a strike 86.67% of the time. Grienke is extremely efficient with his pitches as the most pitches he threw in an inning last night was 14 and he had under 10 pitches twice. Looking over his splits the season you have to swing early in the count if you plan on reaching base: Opponents are hitting .368 with a 0-0 count, .077 with a 0-1 count, .071 with a 0-2 count, and .067 when he runs the count full. He has only gone to 3-1 five times this season and batters are hitting .400 off him. Grienke starting to show off his skills in the 2nd half of last season but nobody could have predicting this, except for the many voices that are roaming in his head.
2009 YTD:
Wins: 6
Losses: 0
IP: 45
K: 54
BB: 8
ERA: .40
WHIP: .84
BB/9: 1.6
K/9: 10.8
The combination of walking 1.6 per 9 and fanning 10.8 is a recipe for success. He can't keep this pace up but fantasy owners are sure enjoying that mid-round pick for now.
Related Grienke Articles:
Grienke shuts out Sox
Grienke is Magic
Grienke is helping all Royals
Other News:
Big Z hits the DL
Posada leaves game and will get MRI
How Sebieu Lions spent Dice-K posting fee
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2 comments:
From a fantasy perspective, what's the play here? If you have him on your roster, do you sell high? We all agree he won't keep this up all year, but considering what he did last season (3.47 ERA /1.28 WHIP), maybe he's worth keeping and there really is no "high". If he's not on your roster, how far do you go to get a guy like this, considering that most people know they'd be selling him high?
Cedar,
I think you would have to give up way too much to get him and he is at the highest point right now. If he does start to struggle and owners start to panic I would pounce then but now is not the time.
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