FanNation

Chien-Ming Wang has been a successful starter for the New York Yankees. He’s got two 19-win seasons under his belt (mostly due to the Yankees offense behind him), a career ERA of 3.69 and a career WHIP of 1.275. These are good, respectable numbers.

What jumps out when looking at Wang’s stats is his very low walk rate but very high hit rate. This is a byproduct of the type of pitcher Wang is: a sinker-baller who pitches to contact. Strikeouts are also not Wang’s forte, but with as few people as Wang walks, this may seem harmless. However, it’s my contention that Wang needs to switch his focus from being a groundball pitcher to a strikeout pitcher. Why, though? He’s been successful without striking people out, so why should he switch? There are a couple of reasons.

In 2007 (the year I’m going to be using for analysis since it has the most data available), the Yankees finished eighth in the majors in fielding percentage. That’s a good mark, and much higher than I thought. Despite that, they were 19th in total chances last year (per ESPN.com), which shows me that the Yankees really aren’t making a lot of plays. They were 9th in putouts but only 20th in assists. Clearly, there are range problems with the Yankees (oh hi, Mr. Jeter). This definitely works to Wang’s disadvantage since he throws so many groundballs. Sure, ground balls are preferable to fly balls, but if the Yankees aren’t getting to them, what help is it?

Second is the fact that Wang struggles immensely with runners on base. This was highlighted in the second half of last year when Wang looked absolutely lost when he was in the stretch. Now, this isn’t just the YES announcers or myself making something out of nothing. There are numbers to back this up. Here are Wang’s hitting against stats from 2007:

All the numbers for Wang rise considerably when men are on base and obviously, that leads to runs scoring. They hit for a better average, get on base more, hit for more power and get hits at a better pace. How, then, do you keep men off base? You strike them out. When a pitcher strikes out a batter, there is next to no chance that the runner will reach. The dropped third strike could happen, but it’s rare to see someone reach base on it—he’s usually thrown or tagged out. With Wang’s tendency to pitch toward contact—combined with the limited range of the New York Yankees—men will be getting on base at way too high a clip if he does not begin to strikeout hitters more.

But why mess with a good thing? Wang is a solid pitcher as it is without really striking guys out, right? Yes that’s true, but in 2007, Wang did much better in games in which he struck out five or more than he did in games in which he struck out less than five. Granted, the latter is a larger sample size than the former, but I still think it is telling.

In 22 games with less than five and strikeouts, Wang gave up 66 earned runs. This was in 150 innings, so it runs his ERA to 3.96. In the eight games where he struck out five or more (49.3 innings) Wang’s ERA fell to 2.92 – and that’s a huge difference. The same difference in runs applied to hits as well. In the games with less than five strikeouts, Wang allowed 151 hits. That boiled down to 6.86 a game, and 9.06 hits per nine innings. In the games with five or more strikeouts, Wang gave up 47 hits: 5.88 per game and 8.58 per nine innings. Again, it’s a big difference.

Chien-Ming Wang has the stuff to be a strikeout pitcher. His fastball touches 95 and his sinker touches the low 90s and drops like a freaking bowling ball. I believe he can use the sinker to keep hitters off balance and use the fastball to blow people away. While he has been successful pitching to contact, I think he could be even more successful pitching to strike guys out.

The Yankees defense is shaky at times and has limited range and Wang is a bad pitcher out of the stretch. Now, this doesn’t mean he shouldn’t use his sinker to get ground balls. It means he should use his fastball and his solid slider as strikeout pitches with the sinker to keep guys off balance. The fewer men on base against him, the better. The only way for him to do that is to strike guys out.

Matt Imbrogno is finishing up his junior year as an English major at the University of Connecticut. He’s been into baseball for his entire life, with the Yankees being his favorite team.