The MLB regular season is winding down and many teams are jockeying to clinch a postseason berth.
Let’s dive into the evening window and look for some winners.
Shane Bieber less than 6.0 pitcher strikeouts
There is certainly name recognition here against a team that strikes out at a decent clip, but Bieber is a shell of his former self.
Bieber is only 28 years old but has dealt with numerous injuries that have significantly hindered his velocity.
He’s made just one start since July 9 after returning from his most recent injured list stint.
Bieber is striking out only 19 percent of hitters this season, and while the bottom of the projected Reds lineup is fairly strikeout-prone the four hitters at the top have struck out no more than 21.1 percent of the time against right-handed pitchers this season.
Bieber only threw 81 pitches during his last start. Since the Guardians have nothing to play for, I doubt they’ll let him sniff 90 on Wednesday night.
Emmet Sheehan more than 4.5 pitcher strikeouts
Is this highly touted pitching prospect finally figuring out his stuff at the MLB level?
Sheehan received a surprising call to the big leagues earlier this season as Los Angeles dealt with numerous injuries to its pitching rotation.
Sheehan struck out roughly 40 percent of minor-league hitters before coming up in June, but when he got to the bigs he couldn’t exactly figure out how to punch out professional hitters.
After one more trip to the minors, Sheehan came back up to the big club in September and struck out at least five batters in three of his four starts.
He isn’t making it deep into games, but we only care about the strikeouts here.
Shehean owns a massive 37.5 percent K rate across the last 30 days and will play host to a putrid Rockies team that has four projected starters with strikeout rates north of 30 percent against right-handed pitchers this season.
Colorado owns the second-worst strikeout rate against RHPs since Sept. 1 at an ugly 27.2 percent.
Since Sheehan’s September return to the bigs, batters are making much less contact while swinging at his pitches outside of the strike zone at a 37.8 percent clip compared to a 63 percent season average. Sheehan also posted three of his four best swinging-strike rates of the season during this stretch.
I don’t normally back pitchers at Coors Field, but the Rockies still own the sixth-highest K rate at home against RHPs (25.6 percent) since Aug. 1.
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Bryce Miller less than 5.0 pitcher strikeouts
Miller has struck out a pedestrian 22.1 percent of hitters this season. He’s been even worse against left-handed hitters, sitting at just 18.4 percent on the season.
The Astros have just three lefties in their projected lineup, but they are all elite-contact hitters. I’d pencil them in for not whiffing against Miller.
That leaves a bunch of righties for him, but with Mauricio Dubon and Jose Altuve playing together I like the chances of Miller not reaching this number.
Martin Maldonado is the biggest strikeout liability on this team and he should be buried at the bottom of the order. The Astros own the second-best strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers since Sept. 1.