Robbie Ray joins rarefied air of Diamondbacks strikeout kings
Sep 13, 2016, 10:05 PM | Updated: 11:12 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray throws against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
Notorious for producing high pitch counts in few innings, Robbie Ray had his share of struggles while pitching for the Diamondbacks this season.
He’s not alone in that regard but as of Tuesday night was with a select few in something else.
Ray reached the 200-strikeout mark for the year, making him one of four D-backs to have accomplished that goal. Randy Johnson (five times), Dan Haren (two times) and Curt Schilling (two times) have reached that total — all in multiple seasons. Furthermore, Ray is only the 15th lefty in MLB to hit the 200-strikeout mark before their 25th birthday.
This season, his strikeout rate of 11.34 per nine innings ranks second-highest behind Miami’s Jose Fernandez, but generally, that promising statistic circles back to pitch-count when it comes to Ray.
On Tuesday, Arizona’s left-handed starter went just five innings against the Colorado Rockies, needing 103 pitches to do so. Ray (8-13, 4.55 ERA) also struck out seven batters while allowing six hits and four runs in his outing, all large numbers for five frames and consistent with the pitcher’s up-and-down season.
According to ESPN’s David Shoenfield, Ray has the second-worst opponent batting average among pitchers who averaged 10-plus strikeouts per nine frames. And that’s through 80 seasons of data. The positive out of that bad news is that Ray is joined on the bottom-5 list by a number of talented pitchers.
In that list of high averages allowed by high-K pitchers are the 2011 version of Zack Greinke, the 2012 season for Max Scherzer and the 2001 season for then-Diamondback Schilling.
Schoenfield says the next step to turn Ray’s strikeout-heavy stuff into more efficient performances comes in commanding his fastball to avoid misses in the zone. Then, it’s about finding a third pitch to go with Ray’s fastball-slider combo.
Leave it to the ESPN writer to explain what the D-backs see in Ray’s potential, a rare positive outlook for this season’s circumstances:
I’m reminded of Scherzer, another guy who used to get into trouble (and still does at times) when he simply tries to throw his fastball past hitters. Scherzer has said that developing his curveball a few years ago was the key to him making the leap to Cy Young winner and contender. Ray has Scherzer-caliber stuff; he might just need to find one more pitch to add to his arsenal. If that happens, he’ll not only have one of the best strikeout rates in the game, but could also turn into one of the best pitchers.
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