Tom Glavine did it again. He threw seven shutout innings with ten strikeouts against the Pirates en route to a 6-0 win for the Mets.
Do a search on Glavine on the ‘net and it’s full of stories of “he’s not a strikeout pitcher” and “what’s gotten into him?”. Of course, this is all referring to his newfound ability to strike batters out.
Yes, it’s true. Glavine never was a strikeout pitcher relying on finesse and location (and forgiving umpires). The last three years (all full seasons), Glavine struck out 82, 109, and 105 batters respectively. After 46 1/3 innings this season, he has struck out 41. That’s a pretty formidable number.
Now Tom Glavine is on my APBA team and therefore one of my favorite pitchers so I’m not trying to take anything away from him. But maybe we’re barking up the wrong tree when we’re trying to find the answer to this interesting question.
Consider the teams that Glavine has faced up until this point. Of the seven teams that Glavine has faced, four are in the top 3 in batters’ strikeouts (he faced Atlanta twice). Pittsburgh is seventh. Only Washington’s (13th) and San Francisco’s (26th) hitters are less prone to strike out as a team.
Could it be that he’s just faced those hitters with a higher probability to strike out?
I traded Tom Glavine along with Melido Perez for an aging Kirk Gibson & Pete Smith. NOT a good trade.