Welcome to the SP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every starting pitcher's performance from every Friday game. I apologize for the jokes written in my delirium in advance. Have questions? Ask me during my office hours on Twitch.tv (https://twitch.tv/pitcherlist) weekday mornings from 10 am-12 pm ET.
Peter Lambert (https://pitcherlist.com/player/peter-lambert/) (HOU) vs BAL (ND) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 10 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 35% CSW, 104 pitches.
Many pitchers establish a certain baseline and threshold for performance that we tend to become familiar with. The pitchers who are consistently great and still produce even when not at their best get the AGA tag. The pitchers who have high ceilings and low floors are labeled Cherry Bombs. The boring pitchers who turn in solid, yet unspectacular performances week after week get stuck with the Toby classification.
In his first year back from NPB and away from the cold grasp of Coors Field, Peter Lambert has established himself as a boring ole’ Toby. After fanning eight batters in his first two starts, he pitched to a 3.28 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and a 20% K% across his next 10 outings. Great ratios, but an unspectacular strikeout rate that suggested he had a ceiling that wasn’t worth holding onto in standard leagues.
It takes a lot, but sometimes borderline waiver wire pitchers can change our expectations, and ultimately graduate from Toby status. Lambert is making a case to earn the Holly designation with his recent performances. His previous three starts saw him tap into the strikeout potential we saw only briefly in April.
The first one, on June 29th, was one of Lambert’s worst starts of the year, but he followed that up with a 17-whiff performance, his highest total since fanning 23 in his season debut. He didn’t stop there, ending the first half with seven strikeouts, the most he had recorded since his second start of the year.
The key to this new level? A brand-new sweeper that clocked in two ticks faster at 83-84 mph. It also showcased a different movement profile, with similar horizontal movement but six inches less drop, making it a more classic “Hand of God” breaker. With exceptional gloveside command, the new sweeper separated itself from his classic big curve, giving him a legit whiff option against RHB and improving the rest of his arsenal in the process. He had thrown the pitch just 6% of the time vs RHB in his first 12 starts (even completely axing it from his arsenal for the final five starts of that stretch), but he leaned on it 34% of the time vs RHB in his three previous starts.
The strikeout success reached new heights against Baltimore on Saturday, as Lambert went 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 10 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 35% CSW, 104 pitches (ND). That’s a career-high 10 Ks and his fifth start in his last eight with one or fewer earned runs (2.31 ERA in that time). Given the run-up to this start, you’d have to assume that the sweeper played a huge factor in keying this career-best outing. Nope!
The breaker was thrown just seven times, but it wasn’t a product of his lack of trust in the pitch. He threw it 23% of the time to RHB, but he faced just eight RHB the entire game. This was an outing of four-seamers dominating LHB, as they racked up nine whiffs and 52% CSW in dominant fashion.
The heater was the big draw in his first two starts of the year, as he sat 95+ mph. He’s fallen to 93-94 as the season has worn on, but it’s maintained a decent shape with 18″ iVB and 0.7 HAVAA. That doesn’t necessarily account for its best performance of the year on Friday, and it’s difficult to pinpoint why it performed so well. Maybe it was just the precision of the pitch upstairs in concert with changeups low or armside and sliders gloveside. Maybe it’s because Orioles LHB have struggled against four-seamers this year. Maybe the stars aligned.
Regardless of the sustainability of his fastball performance or this double-digit strikeout dominance (fueled by an unsustainable 67% putaway rate), Lambert has proven capable of deploying a deep arsenal with weapons to take down both handedness and a degree of whiffability worth chasing in standard leagues. To put it more simply – with @CHW, TEX, @SDP coming up, I’d be grabbing him everywhere. The ceiling is enticing, and he’s demonstrated a stable floor throughout the year. Go out and earn your rightful Holly label!
Let’s see how every other SP did Friday:
Landen Roupp (https://pitcherlist.com/player/landen-roupp/) (SFG) @ SEA (W) – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 19% CSW, 97 pitches.
Seven shutout innings is cool and all, but it’d be great if you didn’t scare us so much in the process. What? I’m not allowed to quote scary movies anymore? You’re not allowed to throw 53% strikes on changeups and sinkers, induce just five whiffs, walk more than you strike out, and get away with 17 outs on 19 balls in play. Leave some luck for the rest of us.
Chris Sale (https://pitcherlist.com/player/chris-sale/) (ATL) vs TEX (W) – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks – 16 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 89 pitches.
Aces gonna ace. What can’t this guy do?
