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Welcome to RC+ Stat Stumper!
We’re taking a longtime ballpark tradition and giving it a modern twist. At Great American Ball Park, the Scoreboard Stumper tests your knowledge of baseball history and you might learn a little bit about the Reds as well. The RC+ Stat Stumper is a weekly question about the Reds that involves a newer statistic.
We invite you to post your guesses in the comments (no looking up the answers, please). The correct answers and winners will be revealed prior to first pitch that day. Enjoy and thanks for playing!
RC+ Stat Stumper #6
Pitching has definitely been the strength of the Reds this season and the hurlers are getting more than just good results. They also have very good expected stats based on quality and amount of contact given up. Nine of the ten pitchers with at least 200 batters faced this season (including those with other teams) have an xwOBA (expected weighted on-base average) allowed that is above league average (0.319). Name both the leader of the group (0.249) and the one below average pitcher (0.327).
I’ll go with Tanner Roark as the one below-average pitcher. I’m torn between Garrett, Stephenson, Castillo, and Gray as the best. Garrett’s walks probably take him out of the running for an xwOBA that low. In general, I haven’t seen many starters get that low with their xwOBA since it’s hard to sustain that when facing more batters. So by process of elimination, I’ll go with Stephenson.
So this includes pitchers no longer on the Reds (Roark, Hughes)? Does it include pitchers now on the Reds who have faced 200 batters but not all with the Reds (Gausman)?
It does not include Roark or Hughes or anyone else not current. It does include Bauer and Gausman.
I’ll revise my answer to Gausman then.
Gausman below average, Stephenson the leader?
Gray top.
Peralta bottom.
First of all, 9 of 10 better than average is a good indication that the Reds got the pitching. Positive for next year. They need to turn their attention to acquiring offense.
I’m going with Gausman for below average (.327), but there’s a chance it could be Bauer after his recent run of poor starts. But I’m sticking with Gausman. For the best (.249) I agree with Matt that’s pretty low for a starting pitcher. If I was going to pick a starter, it would be Sonny Gray. But I’ll go with a reliever. It could be Robert Stephenson, but I’m going with Amir Garrett.
Great job to all our winners who correctly picked Robert Stephenson as the team leader and Kevin Gausman as the only player below average. Thanks for playing!