The Detroit Tigers sent down Rick Porcello to Triple-A on Sunday and are hoping to get the same results from this move that they got from sending down Max Scherzer earlier in the year.
Earlier this year, the Tigers sent down Scherzer and his 7.29 ERA and 5.6 K’s/9 to Triple-A. Since Scherzer has returned, the 25-year-old righty has a 3.48 ERA and has struck out 11.9 batters per nine IP. That is impressive.
Those are the results the Tigers are hoping to get from Porcello.
After finishing third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting last year with a 14-9 record a 3.96 ERA, Porcello has really struggled in 2010. He is currently 4-7 with a 6.14 ERA.
I was actually thinking about picking up Porcello in my fantasy league for a spot start on Saturday night and thankfully I didn’t. I thought Porcello would have a good matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but he really struggled (four runs and eight hits in 5.1 IP) and in turn, it was his last start for awhile in a Tigers’ uniform.
The bottom line for Porcello and the thing he needs to work on in the minors is getting the ball down. Take a look at Porcello’s pitch breakdown courtesy of PitchFX.
That is a lot of pitches up in the zone. Unless you have great stuff like a Stephen Strasburg or a David Price, you can’t pitch up in the zone with mediocre stuff. Perhaps that is why hitters are batting .328 against Porcello this year.
Pitching up in the zone would also explain why Porcello’s groundball rate has decreased this year from last year (54.2 percent to 47.4) and his flyball rate has increased (28.7 percent to 33.8). Nine times out of ten, when a pitcher’s groundball rate decreases and his flyball rate increases, it spells trouble.
Porcello is still only 21-years-old, so there is plenty of time for him to turn things around. He will get his first shot to turn things around next week for Toledo.
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