Opening Day is 10 days away, which means its time to start fretting about the various Cardinals shortcomings.
Some folks are whispering about Albert Pujols’ slow spring. Through Wednesday’s games, your pal and mine is batting a pedestrian .260/.302/.380 with exactly zero home runs in 17 games. Call me crazy, but I’m not worried about it. I think he’s earned the occasional rough patch, don’t you think?
What is bugging me, though, is the starting rotation. Don’t get me wrong; the results have been brilliant: Through 78.1 spring innings, the likely five starters have compiled a 1.83 ERA and given up only two homers.
What I’m concerned about is how those excellent results are being achieved. Specifically, where are the strikeouts? Here are the starting five’s innings pitched and K/9 rates:
- Adam Wainwright: 21.2 IP, 3.73 K/9
- Anthony Reyes: 16, 3.94
- Chris Carpenter: 14.2, 4.91
- Braden Looper: 14, 3.86
- Kip Wells: 12, 6.75
Granted, those are small sample sizes taken individually, but total the numbers up and you get a 4.48 K/9 rate for those 78.1 IP. You sure can’t argue with the results, but it’s hard to sustain them with such a low strikeout rate and a BABIP of roughly .237.
Yes, it’s still only spring training, and the bulk of those innings pitched can be credited to just getting back into playing shape. But we’re now deep enough into spring that the starters are getting stretched out to 6-plus innings each time they take the bump. If the low strikeout rate continues into these longer starts, then there should be some legitimate concern.
UPDATE: Carpenter has whiffed six Marlins through six innings during Thursday’s tilt. Thanks for smashing my whole argument to pieces, Chris.
