Matt Shoemaker is fun

[Angel Oracle]

I can't remember when I've seen a two plus months stretch of pitching for the Halos as good as this one.

[Oz27]

Well it was nice to see Shoemaker taking a step back towards his best last night. Prior to that Reds game he had dropped off a bit and, while that one start didn't totally put my mind at ease, it's nice to see him striking guys out again. From May 21 to June 22, Shoemaker struck out 62 in 51.2 innings and that fell off considerably after that - from July 3 to August 24 he struck out 44 in 64.1 IP. His numbers in that latter stretch were far from bad, in fact they were still pretty good, but it's never encouraging to be seeing someone's strikeout rate declining considerably. Anyway, it was only the Reds and he had a rough first inning, but no walks and seven strikeouts in seven innings is much closer to the Shoemaker we saw when he was at the top of his game. Hopefully he can keep it up through the end of the season.

I also wanted to point out that the Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus WAR models value Shoemaker pretty highly now. Fangraphs (which uses a FIP variant) has him at 3.3 WAR for the year and BP (which uses deserved run average) has him at 3.0. Baseball Reference's model is less kind to him and has him at 1.9 but I tend to think FG and BP are much better at evaluating pitchers.

[Blarg]

Hamilton got into his head with the stolen bases in that first inning.  I liked how the umpire called Peraza on his second backswing that hits Bandy on a steal and sent Hamilton back to second because of batter interference. Once was an accident, twice was evidence of intentional. Peraza later in the game gets hit by a pick off attempt and was replaced. Karma? 

 

[Troll Daddy]

Thank god for fangraphs ... I would of never known Shoemaker is this good. 

[Oz27]

26 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

Thank god for fangraphs ... I would of never known Shoemaker is this good. 

*have

[Blarg]

As you can see, Oz, you have 3 different sources giving you three different values for the same pitcher. So the value of the data they give is only how much you believe that any are a true representation of what took place so far this season for Shoemaker. It is subjective to perception but not necessarily fact.

[zenmaster]

He's been pretty awesome since his horrible April. If my math is correct, his ERA is around 3.00 with 22 walks and 133 strikeouts if you remove his horrible month of April.

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, Blarg said:

As you can see, Oz, you have 3 different sources giving you three different values for the same pitcher. So the value of the data they give is only how much you believe that any are a true representation of what took place so far this season for Shoemaker. It is subjective to perception but not necessarily fact.

They are actually stating three very different things and which one you find more informative depends on your opinion of whats important.

Fangraphs gives most all of the credit/blame on balls in play to the defense, but full credit for Ks, walks, & homers to the pitcher. BBref gives all the credit/blame for the runs allowed to the pitcher and none to the defense, and BP tries to estimate how much credit should go to the pitchers vs the defense for the results on balls in play. 

FG and BBR are based on the actual results on the field, while BP is doing a long run estimation of how the results on the field should have played out. 

[Blarg]

So which do you believe is the true representation of Shoemaker's season?

I think none because it is an aggregator that takes all outings into consideration when it was obvious his start of the season was so wrong they had to send him to Triple A to sort himself out. To me his pitching is actually under rated because of a false start this season has been included whereas what he is doing now disproves that is the pitcher he is.

Some would scream cherry picking while I would prefer to say we tossed out the outliers.

[Troll Daddy]

He passes the eye test ... that good enough for me. I think he's a keeper. 

I know, I'm in the minority here (only one) but I don't need to look at any type of stats to know his value. 

I'm very excited for a rotation of Richards, Shoemaker, and Skaggs to build on for next season. 

[Glen]

Shoemaker is the Mike Trout of Angels pitchers.

[Angel Oracle]

3 hours ago, Blarg said:

Hamilton got into his head with the stolen bases in that first inning.  I liked how the umpire called Peraza on his second backswing that hits Bandy on a steal and sent Hamilton back to second because of batter interference. Once was an accident, twice was evidence of intentional. Peraza later in the game gets hit by a pick off attempt and was replaced. Karma? 

 

Karma, but Cron's lackadaisical attempt to catch that pickoff was pretty bad. 

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, zenmaster said:

He's been pretty awesome since his horrible April. If my math is correct, his ERA is around 3.00 with 22 walks and 133 strikeouts if you remove his horrible month of April.

Which equals his great 2014 ROTY runnerup season, with an even lower BBs total.

[ScruffytheJanitor]

On 7/21/2016 at 6:28 PM, Oz27 said:

I'm really hoping this thread doesn't become about whether we should trade Matt Shoemaker or whether he will maintain what he is doing, because those are long debates we have had for awhile and likely will continue to have for awhile and there are plenty of other places to do that. I'm starting this thread to celebrate Matt Shoemaker, who is having one of the most fun seasons I can remember - just a couple of months after most or all of us thought he was done. So here are some fun facts which I hope will sum up just how cool Matt Shoemaker has been this year...

Only 27 times in Angels history has a pitcher walked nobody and struck out 10 or more in that appearance. Nolan Ryan never did it with the Angels. Our most recent Cy Young winner, Bartolo Colon, didn't do it in Anaheim either. Chuck Finley didn't do it and Frank Tanana only did it once. Jered Weaver only did it twice. Matt Shoemaker has done that three times in less than two months alone. The only other Angels who have ever done that more than once in the same season are John Lackey (2006) and Frank Tanana (1976).

Earlier this year, Matt Shoemaker went 30.1 IP without walking anybody. That is the longest stretch without a walk by an Angels starter ever, a whole 5.1 IP better than the second best (Frank Tanana in 1980). No other Angels starter this year has gone more than 10 innings without walking somebody. Shoemaker's 30.1 IP stretch is the best in the majors this year by a full 6.1 IP.

Matt Shoemaker is currently striking out five batters for every one he walks this season. Only two Angels starters have ever done better than that across a season ... one of whom was actually 2014 Matt Shoemaker. The other was 2011 Dan Haren. Nobody else has even been particularly close. 2008 Ervin Santana is next best with a 4.55 SO/BB rate, followed by 2010 Jered Weaver at 4.31.

Only three starters in Angels history ever recorded a better single season strikeout rate than 2016 Matt Shoemaker's 9.34 K/9. Nolan Ryan topped that six times and Frank Tanana and Jered Weaver each did it once.

Shoemaker is throwing strikes 66 per cent of the time this year. So to is Jered Weaver. Only two Angels starters have ever topped that mark - Bartolo Colon (twice) and Paul Byrd (once).

There are heaps more of these so I just picked out a few. Plenty of these stats are meaningless and others only tell part of a story but they're examples of one thing - Matt Shoemaker is having a pretty remarkable year. He is super fun to watch. Whatever we do with him and whatever happens from here, he has provided joy in a miserable year. He is awesome.

Matt Shoemaker is a good #4 starter that can (and will) pitch like an Ace when his splitter is especially good. Additionally, he's a good dude. I have no idea why anyone would want to trade him.

[Dick B Back]

1 hour ago, Troll Daddy said:

He passes the eye test ... that good enough for me. I think he's a keeper. 

I know, I'm in the minority here (only one) but I don't need to look at any type of stats to know his value. 

I'm very excited for a rotation of Richards, Shoemaker, and Skaggs to build on for next season. 

Especially with the possible lack of serviceable starters for 2017. 

I agree.

[Oz27]

5 hours ago, Blarg said:

So which do you believe is the true representation of Shoemaker's season?

I think none because it is an aggregator that takes all outings into consideration when it was obvious his start of the season was so wrong they had to send him to Triple A to sort himself out. To me his pitching is actually under rated because of a false start this season has been included whereas what he is doing now disproves that is the pitcher he is.

Some would scream cherry picking while I would prefer to say we tossed out the outliers.

You can't just filter out the bad and keep the good. The bad still happened. Plus it may be no less of an outlier than the month where he was Clayton Kershaw level good. What we have seen since then, which is someone who isn't quite that dominant but still pretty good and worth a lot, might be the most accurate reflection of his true talent.

[John Stellman]

On 7/21/2016 at 4:28 PM, Oz27 said:

I'm really hoping this thread doesn't become about whether we should trade Matt Shoemaker or whether he will maintain what he is doing, because those are long debates we have had for awhile and likely will continue to have for awhile and there are plenty of other places to do that. I'm starting this thread to celebrate Matt Shoemaker, who is having one of the most fun seasons I can remember - just a couple of months after most or all of us thought he was done. So here are some fun facts which I hope will sum up just how cool Matt Shoemaker has been this year...

Only 27 times in Angels history has a pitcher walked nobody and struck out 10 or more in that appearance. Nolan Ryan never did it with the Angels. Our most recent Cy Young winner, Bartolo Colon, didn't do it in Anaheim either. Chuck Finley didn't do it and Frank Tanana only did it once. Jered Weaver only did it twice. Matt Shoemaker has done that three times in less than two months alone. The only other Angels who have ever done that more than once in the same season are John Lackey (2006) and Frank Tanana (1976).

Earlier this year, Matt Shoemaker went 30.1 IP without walking anybody. That is the longest stretch without a walk by an Angels starter ever, a whole 5.1 IP better than the second best (Frank Tanana in 1980). No other Angels starter this year has gone more than 10 innings without walking somebody. Shoemaker's 30.1 IP stretch is the best in the majors this year by a full 6.1 IP.

Matt Shoemaker is currently striking out five batters for every one he walks this season. Only two Angels starters have ever done better than that across a season ... one of whom was actually 2014 Matt Shoemaker. The other was 2011 Dan Haren. Nobody else has even been particularly close. 2008 Ervin Santana is next best with a 4.55 SO/BB rate, followed by 2010 Jered Weaver at 4.31.

Only three starters in Angels history ever recorded a better single season strikeout rate than 2016 Matt Shoemaker's 9.34 K/9. Nolan Ryan topped that six times and Frank Tanana and Jered Weaver each did it once.

Shoemaker is throwing strikes 66 per cent of the time this year. So to is Jered Weaver. Only two Angels starters have ever topped that mark - Bartolo Colon (twice) and Paul Byrd (once).

There are heaps more of these so I just picked out a few. Plenty of these stats are meaningless and others only tell part of a story but they're examples of one thing - Matt Shoemaker is having a pretty remarkable year. He is super fun to watch. Whatever we do with him and whatever happens from here, he has provided joy in a miserable year. He is awesome.

He's the Angels No. 1 starter!!!

[ten ocho recon scout]

8 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Karma, but Cron's lackadaisical attempt to catch that pickoff was pretty bad. 

Crarma

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, John Stellman said:

He's the Angels No. 1 starter!!!

Hes better than that. Hed be a number 1 on some better teams, too.