Look man, when it comes to puns, you gotta work with what you got. And I got a measurement. Sure, if I spent more time on this, I probably would have come up with something better (allegedly) but at least since gas prices are on the rise, it’s at least trending with current events. SEO synergy baby. And nothing screams trending analytics like jumping on a player that just stuck out 11 without walking a batter in seven scoreless innings. With just two hits allowed, Zac Gallen put up a dominating performance against the Padres, culminating in a very hot start to the season with not allowing a run in his last 20.2 innings pitched. If that wasn’t dominating enough, he currently holds a 0.80 WHIP, good for fifth in the league, and is sitting at 39 strikeouts, overall leader in the MLB. I believe that Zac Gallen has been flirting the fine line between pretty good to pretty great, but already adding to an amazing 2022 campaign, are we ready to shed the pretense and just call him great? Royal “we” I guess…
I mean, spoiler alert, I think we should! But since I can’t just spew out 100 words and call it a day, I’m going to go over why. And no, it wasn’t just because I just watched him dismantle the Padres like the Padres have dismantled my heart. It’s because he’s actually kinda great and wasn’t always expected to be. Not really considered an elite prospect, the scouting industry didn’t really seem too enamored with Gallen. But that perception though four minor league seasons, of strong if not spectacular results, soon changed. Just a season ago, as alluded to above, he threw 184 innings and posted a 2.54 ERA and 0.91 WHIP. From August to September, he was dominating with a 44.1 scoreless inning streak and sat at 20% K-BB, all at the age of 26.
Now age 27, the dominance has continued. And this type of production wasn’t always a for sure thing. Keep in mind that for such amazing results, Gallen relies mostly on a wide-ranging repertoire of pitches, deception, and elite command of the zone. While normally we spend time focusing on pitchers with exceptional physical talent that can sling it at high velocities, there’s something to be said about a pitcher who can just straight out pitch using all kinds of methods. And look, it’s not like a 9.39 K/9 in 2022 is something to scoff at. But it was the 2.30 BB/9 and 0.73 HR/9 that really stood out, numbers he’s already improved upon now in 2023, with a 11.20 and 1.44 K/9 and BB/9, backed with an even lower 0.57 HR/9.
Looking through his Pitch Values and breakdown, everything is nearly the same and that’s shown in the overall results. I would note that in his plate discipline numbers, there is a drop in Batters swinging and missing on his outside pitches, but overall batters are making less contact (78.5% in 2022 down to 71.1% this year) and swinging more, to the tune of a 13.1 SwStr%, 10.1% last year. Regardless, some of the variations may just be statistical noise, especially since some of these numbers will be skewed by his current hot streak, but keep in mind, it’s not like he hasn’t gone on a streak like this before. Just as mentioned above, he already has a 40-inning streak without giving up a run, we’re not even halfway there on this one.
You didn’t really need me to confirm what some of us already know or I guess gauge. The dude can pitch and he’s been bringing some nasty stuff to the plate. At this point, there’s no question that he’s great, and the fact that he’s done this without an elite physical ceiling is pretty cool.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
