Welcome to Ronnie’s 3 Ups and 3 Downs! This column looks at some fascinating matchups and facts that might pique the interest of the reader as that day’s games are reviewed. This is my attempt at creating compelling thought on any given day.
Ups
Matthew Boyd
Boyd is starting off the 2019 season on the right foot. Through 2 starts on the year Boyd has struck out an amazing 23 batters in 11.1 innings in route to a 1.75 SIERA. In his third start, Boyd faces the surging Indians that have won five straight games.
Cleveland has been absolutely terrible against left handed pitching this year. The team is striking out at a 38.4% clip against southpaws and has just a .262 wOBA. They are one of the worst teams in the game right now when facing lefties. Boyd should keep his hot streak going in this matchup.
Whit Merrifield
No hitter in the Majors is smacking line drives at a higher rate than Merrifield with a 38.2% rate. Those line drives have helped him hit .342/.375/.526 with a 152 OPS+. He isn’t just hitting line drives, he’s hitting them extremely hard. Merrifield has a 52.9% HC on the season with just a 5.9% SC.
Today Merrifield faces off against Japan’s Yusei Kikuchi. With a below average whiff rate of 9.2%, Kikuchi is not exactly Randy Johnson. Whit has a very low 6.2% SwStr% on the season so he is likely to put a lot of balls in play. That bodes well for him since he has a .365 BABIP.
Kolten Wong
Taring it up with a 213 OPS+ on the year, Wong is primed for a good day today. He will step in against Los Angelis Dodger Kenta Maeda. Wong sports a 6.6 wFB, good enough for third in the Majors. Maeda uses a fourseamer at a 36.9% rate. Wong also sports a very healthy 40.7% HC on the year.
Downs
Asdrubal Cabrera
Off to a fairly mediocer start, Cabrera has been just about league average through the first 10 games of the season. He has hit 3 home runs on the year, giving him some power clout, but this matchup is not the best one for Cabrera.
The Texas Rangers are on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks and lefty pitcher Robbie Ray. 33.5% of his pitches are sliders, which is tough enough by itself but Cabrera is the worst in the AL against the pitch with a -3.2 wSL.
Jack Flaherty
This is a tough one for Flaherty. He takes the hill at home against the Los Angelis Dodgers. The number one offense in the National League so far this year, the Dodgers are crushing the ball right now. With a Major League best .401 wOBA, the Dodgers are steamrolling at the plate. They also lead the NL with 24 home runs and are making 39.7% HC as a team.
Miguel Cabrera
Over the last three seasons Cabrera has not done well against the fastball. Since 2017 he has a total of -0.2 wFB. He isn’t doing much better against offspeed pitches either. He hasn’t amased more than 6 weighted runs against any offspeed pitch since 2016. That’s going to be a problem for him today as he faces off against the Cleveland Indians Trevor Bauer.
Bauer throws nearly every pitch imaginable at his opponents. He throws a fastball, slider, curve, cutter, and changeup and he throws each pitch at least 12% of the time. That repituar spells trouble for Cabrera.
