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Remaining Free Agent Groundballers
With Aaron Cook and his 57% career groundball rate now off the free agent market, it's a good time to have a look at some available hurlers who have a habit of keeping the ball on the infield.
There's no official distinction for what makes one a groundballer, of course, but the average MLB pitcher induces grounders about 44% of the time. So, we're looking at guys who clock in above that rate for their career and who logged at least 100 innings in 2011.
- Paul Maholm - 52.3%. He's not spectacular by any stretch but is reliable and should find a home as someone's No. 4 or 5 starter.
- Joel Pineiro - 49.2%. His 60.5% rate as a Cardinal in 2009 looks like an outlier, but whoever signs him will hope he can recapture that form.
- Hiroki Kuroda - 48.6%. His career average would be higher were it not for a big dip in 2011 - down to 43.2%. Is that noise, or a change in profile for an aging pitcher who's battled injuries?
- Roy Oswalt - 47.3%. He hovered around 50% during his prime but seems to have settled in close to league average the past couple years. I wonder if his back troubles have been a factor.
As you can see, most of the extreme groundballers (50% or more) are off the market. Edwin Jackson, the prize of the remaining class, has had some pretty notable swings in groundball rate from year to year, which is Edwin Jackson in a nutshell.
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