Source: www.pe.com --- Monday, September 25, 2017
CHICAGO — Parker Bridwell unwittingly became an example of one of Baseball’s 21st century debates. Bridwell, who makes his penultimate start of the season on Tuesday, has been successful in his rookie season, despite going against the current trend. In an era when strikeouts are booming, Bridwell has been pitching to contact. His rate of 5.79 strikeouts per nine innings ranks ninth lowest in the majors among pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings. Nonetheless, Bridwell has a 3.86 ERA, which is better than the league average. Many analysts will tell you that his success is not sustainable, because he doesn’t miss enough bats. “I feel great about it,” Bridwell said. “I don’t care. They can say whatever they want. I go out and I’m efficient and I’m happy how I do my job. If you’re efficient, most of the time the game is going your way. Just got to stay away from big innings.” Bridwell said he didn’t come to the majors intending to pitch this way. It just happened. “It was hard for me to throw four pitches to a batter because they were swinging,” Bridwell said. “It’s the best thing that could have happened to me.” Bridwell has thrown 3.6 pitches per batter he’s faced, which is the best rate of any Angels starter. “Back in the day, that was a good thing,” pitching coach Charles Nagy said. “Now it’s the high-strikeout, high-pitch count guys. You still need guys to go out there and eat up innings and get outs.” The trick, of cou ...
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