Oakland Athletics vs. Los Angeles Angels: Who Wins in 2016?
Pitcher #1: Sonny Gray vs. Garrett Richards
Garrett Richards is a pretty excellent pitcher. He struck out 176 in 207.3 innings last year. Comparatively, Gray struck out 169 in 208 innings. But Richards gives up more hits and free passes, with a lifetime WHIP of 1.25. Gray’s career WHIP is a little bit better, at 1.13. Gray is also a little younger (25 years old compared to 27 years old) and a little more seasoned, having started in the 2013 postseason with an outstanding 2.08 ERA.
Richards does pitch faster – his average fastball is around 95 mph vs. Gray’s 93 mph average – but Richards will also give up more flyballs than the A’s ace. Richards has a groundball/flyball ratio of 1.96 versus Gray’s 1.72. Guess who gave up more home runs last year? If you guessed Richards, you’d be right: 20 to Gray’s 17. By minuscule differences, Gray ekes out a win over Richards.
Advantage: A’s
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Pitcher #2: Rich Hill vs. Andrew Heaney
Rich Hill‘s story is beautiful: fighting through Tommy John surgery, appearances with independent baseball leagues, and the like. However, Hill has been awful in Spring Training. He may be experimenting with a new arm slot, which doesn’t help his delivery. He was dominant in four starts last year…but that was merely four starts!
Andrew Heaney is a guy who was traded for Dee Gordon, the best hitter in baseball besides Miguel Cabrera last year – at least as far as average goes. Heaney threw for 78 strikeouts in 105 innings and is a bit more of a proven starter than Hill. Plus, the kid is eleven years younger. As far as this battle of southpaws goes, Heaney wins.
Advantage: Angels
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Pitcher #3: Jesse Hahn vs. Matt Shoemaker
Jesse Hahn was the pride of the younger kids in the San Diego Padres organization not too long ago. In the last two years, pitching for San Diego and Oakland, he has a 3.23 ERA with 134 strikeouts in 170 innings. These would be good numbers for one season, but he had extensive injuries the last few years: he missed the last half of the season in 2015 due to a forearm strain. Still, his mid-90s fastball is good enough to get him going.
Matt Shoemaker‘s numbers are padded by an immense 16-win 2014 season in which he placed second in the Rookie of the Year voting. (If you’re wondering, Jose Abreu won that year with a .317 average, 36 home runs, and 107 RBI. That’s a pretty good second place to get.) Shoemaker did have a forearm injury as well, and he missed the end of the season, too. But due to pedigree alone – and due to striking out more often in general – Shoemaker wins this round.
Advantage: Angels
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Pitcher #4: Kendall Graveman vs. Hector Santiago
Hector Santiago was an All-Star last year who had 162 strikeouts in 180 innings. Kendall Graveman put up a respectable 4.05 ERA and won six games last year as a rookie, but of course that’s nothing compared to Santiago’s 3.59 ERA and nine wins.
Advantage: Angels
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Pitcher #5: Chris Bassitt vs. Nick Tropeano
In seven starts and eight total appearances last year, Nick Tropeano looked pretty good. He threw 38 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings and scored three wins. He has a monster changeup that gets him whiffs to go with a four-seam fastball that touches 90. Chris Bassitt throws up to 94 and his curveball is much slower at around 70, so that does compare to Trop’s whiff pitch. But Trop gets more hitters to swing and miss: his swinging strike percentage is 10.6 percent lifetime, while Bassitt’s is 7.9 percent.
Advantage: Angels
Next: A's vs. Angels: Bullpen