Is Lance Lynn Elite?
Aug 5, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn (31). Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
It seems to be up for debate across Cardinal Nation if Lance Lynn is an elite pitcher. Those who doubt him look to years past where he was prone to that one blow up inning, and also his unusually high run support. Those who say yes look to his win/loss ratio. I did a piece about Trevor Rosenthal a bit back asking the same question, now we get to see if Lynn is truly an Ace, or just another good pitcher.
Make no mistake, Lance Lynn is good. He can dominate teams at times, and be a top two starter on many teams in this league. Since his career as a starter began in 2012 Lynn is 48-25 in games he started. Posting only a 3.30 ERA, and averaging 188-strikeouts over each full season.
From 2012 – today (September, 11th,2014) Lance Lynn is tied with the most wins over that span in the National League, keeping pace with Clayton Kershaw.
Some argue wins and losses are over hyped because they don’t show everything. Though admit, how many losing pitchers do you call elite? But to be fair many other things make an elite pitcher, like innings pitched and k/9. Two markers of a pitcher that is not only durable, but also able to dominate hitters.
In his three years as a starter, Lance Lynn’s K/9 ratio has actually gone down the past three seasons, along with his WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched) and ERA.Those last two things are good things. Even still, he averages out to a 8.6 K/9, so nearly a strikeout per inning. His average innings pitched through three full seasons would be near 193 innings a season (projecting the end of this seasons innings included), meaning he is durable and able to get into the 6th and 7th innings. Over his career he averages 6-2/3 innings per start.
Every year Lance Lynn earns at least 15 wins, every year he sits around 200 strikeouts a season and near 193 innings pitched per season. Everything points to Lance Lynn is elite and should be considered a top tier pitcher.
Agree? Disagree? tell us
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