Did anyone see this type of season coming from Franklin? PECOTA certainly didn't, projecting a 5.31 ERA in 65 innings.
Not only has the former starter been durable this season, he's already pitched 64.2 innings, he's also been surprisingly effective posting a 1.95 ERA during that tenure. His ARP of 20.3 runs is good for 13th in the league and his VORP of 26.2 runs is higher than that of Doug Davis, Tom Glavine and other major league relievers including Takashi Saito, Bill Wagner and Jonathan Papelbon.
Carlos Marmol, Chicago Cubs:
A position player turned starting pitcher turned relief pitcher, it appears Carlos Marmol has found the role that suits him best. Ryan Dempster leads all Cub pitchers in saves with 21, but it's Marmol that's been the team's most effective and dominant pitcher out of the bullpen this season. His fastball-slider combo is very similar to that of a healthy Kerry Wood and that seems like an accurate comparison given the fact Marmol is striking out 12.27 hitters per nine innings. To give one an idea as to why saves don't always accurately measure a pitcher's effectiveness, Marmol leads all Cub pitchers in WXRL (2.600) and ARP (26.9) despite the fact he has only one save on the year.
Hungary Jack wrote:I hate to say, but Franklin's season screams "outlier" like a 12-year old screams at Friday the Thirteenth.
His stuff is pretty nasty so I'm not too worried about him but you'd think he'd be able to get more swings and misses than he has. A 4.5 k9 for a relief pitcher is awful.
I still would have liked to see what Franklin could've done as a starter.
Franklin's been getting more GB's over the past three seasons, and the fact that his % is at 50 this season helps out a lot. Plus, he's getting fewer and fewer fly balls. His LD's are right at the average mark, so if he falls back next season, I'm guessing it will come as a result of balls finding holes.
What to make of his LOB% though? It's close to ninety percent!
GatewaySnayke wrote:What to make of his LOB% though? It's close to ninety percent!
I'd think that has something to do with his departing games with 2 outs instead of at the beginning of an inning after the first runner reaches. But that's total conjecture on my part.